Genesis 2:20

2:20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ¹  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ² 

Genesis 2:23

2:23 Then the man said,

“This one at last ³  is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one will be called ⁴  ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of ⁵  man.” ⁶ 

Genesis 5:29

5:29 He named him Noah, ⁷  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ⁸  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.”

Genesis 16:11

16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,

“You are now ⁹  pregnant

and are about to give birth ¹⁰  to a son.

You are to name him Ishmael, ¹¹ 

for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ¹² 

Genesis 29:32-35

29:32 So Leah became pregnant ¹³  and gave birth to a son. She named him Reuben, ¹⁴  for she said, “The Lord has looked with pity on my oppressed condition. ¹⁵  Surely my husband will love me now.”

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹⁶  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ¹⁷ 

29:34 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Now this time my husband will show me affection, ¹⁸  because I have given birth to three sons for him.” That is why he was named Levi. ¹⁹ 

29:35 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” That is why she named him Judah. ²⁰  Then she stopped having children.

Genesis 35:18

35:18 With her dying breath, ²¹  she named him Ben-Oni. ²²  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ²³ 

Exodus 2:10

2:10 When the child grew older ²⁴  she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. ²⁵  She named him Moses, saying, “Because I drew him from the water.” ²⁶ 

Exodus 2:1

The Birth of the Deliverer

2:1 ²⁷ A man from the household ²⁸  of Levi married ²⁹  a woman who was a descendant of Levi. ³⁰ 

Exodus 1:20

1:20 So God treated the midwives well, ³¹  and the people multiplied and became very strong.

Matthew 1:21

1:21 She will give birth to a son and you will name him ³²  Jesus, ³³  because he will save his people from their sins.”

Matthew 1:23

1:23 “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ³⁴  Emmanuel,” ³⁵  which means ³⁶  “God with us.” ³⁷ 

[2:20]  ¹ tn Here for the first time the Hebrew word אָדָם (’adam) appears without the article, suggesting that it might now be the name “Adam” rather than “[the] man.” Translations of the Bible differ as to where they make the change from “man” to “Adam” (e.g., NASB and NIV translate “Adam” here, while NEB and NRSV continue to use “the man”; the KJV uses “Adam” twice in v. 19).

[2:20]  ² tn Heb “there was not found a companion who corresponded to him.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is indefinite. Without a formally expressed subject the verb may be translated as passive: “one did not find = there was not found.”

[2:23]  ³ tn The Hebrew term הַפַּעַם (happa’am) means “the [this] time, this place,” or “now, finally, at last.” The expression conveys the futility of the man while naming the animals and finding no one who corresponded to him.

[2:23]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text is very precise, stating: “of this one it will be said, ‘woman’.” The text is not necessarily saying that the man named his wife – that comes after the fall (Gen 3:20).

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Or “from” (but see v. 22).

[2:23]  ⁶ sn This poetic section expresses the correspondence between the man and the woman. She is bone of his bones, flesh of his flesh. Note the wordplay (paronomasia) between “woman” (אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) and “man” (אִישׁ, ’ish). On the surface it appears that the word for woman is the feminine form of the word for man. But the two words are not etymologically related. The sound and the sense give that impression, however, and make for a more effective wordplay.

[5:29]  ⁷ sn The name Noah appears to be related to the Hebrew word נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”). There are several wordplays on the name “Noah” in the story of the flood.

[5:29]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew verb יְנַחֲמֵנוּ (yÿnakhamenu) is from the root נָחָם (nakham), which means “to comfort” in the Piel verbal stem. The letters נ (nun) and ח (heth) pick up the sounds in the name “Noah,” forming a paronomasia on the name. They are not from the same verbal root, and so the connection is only by sound. Lamech’s sentiment reflects the oppression of living under the curse on the ground, but also expresses the hope for relief in some way through the birth of Noah. His words proved to be ironic but prophetic. The relief would come with a new beginning after the flood. See E. G. Kraeling, “The Interpretations of the Name Noah in Genesis 5:29,” JBL 48 (1929): 138-43.

[16:11]  ⁹ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”

[16:11]  ¹⁰ tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.

[16:11]  ¹¹ sn The name Ishmael consists of the imperfect or jussive form of the Hebrew verb with the theophoric element added as the subject. It means “God hears” or “may God hear.”

[16:11]  ¹² tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.

[29:32]  ¹³ tn Or “Leah conceived” (also in vv. 33, 34, 35).

[29:32]  ¹⁴ sn The name Reuben (רְאוּבֵן, rÿ’uven) means “look, a son.”

[29:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “looked on my affliction.”

[29:33]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ¹⁷ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[29:34]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will be joined to me.”

[29:34]  ¹⁹ sn The name Levi (לֵוִי, levi), the precise meaning of which is debated, was appropriate because it sounds like the verb לָוָה (lavah, “to join”), used in the statement recorded earlier in the verse.

[29:35]  ²⁰ sn The name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) means “he will be praised” and reflects the sentiment Leah expresses in the statement recorded earlier in the verse. For further discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names ‘Israel’ and ‘Judah’ with an Excursus on the Etymology of Todah and Torah,” JBL 46 (1927): 151-85; and A. R. Millard, “The Meaning of the Name Judah,” ZAW 86 (1974): 216-18.

[35:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ²² sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ²³ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[2:10]  ²⁴ tn The verb is the preterite of גָּדַל (gadal), and so might be rendered “and he became great.” But the context suggests that it refers to when he was weaned and before he was named, perhaps indicating he was three or four years old (see Gen 21:8).

[2:10]  ²⁵ tn The idiomatic expression literally reads: “and he was to her for a son.” In this there are two prepositions lamed. The first expresses possession: “he was to her” means “she had.” The second is part of the usage of the verb: הָיָה (haya) with the lamed (ל) preposition means “to become.”

[2:10]  ²⁶ sn The naming provides the climax and summary of the story. The name of “Moses” (מֹשֶׁה, mosheh) is explained by “I have drawn him (מְשִׁיתִהוּ, mÿshitihu) from the water.” It appears that the name is etymologically connected to the verb in the saying, which is from מָשָׁה (mashah, “to draw out”). But commentators have found it a little difficult that the explanation of the name by the daughter of Pharaoh is in Hebrew when the whole background is Egyptian (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 20). Moreover, the Hebrew spelling of the name is the form of the active participle (“the one who draws out”); to be a precise description it should have been spelled מָשׁוּי (mashuy), the passive participle (“the one drawn out”). The etymology is not precise; rather, it is a wordplay (called paronomasia). Either the narrator merely attributed words to her (which is unlikely outside of fiction), or the Hebrew account simply translated what she had said into Hebrew, finding a Hebrew verb with the same sounds as the name. Such wordplays on names (also popular etymology) are common in the Bible. Most agree that the name is an Egyptian name. Josephus attempted to connect the biblical etymology with the name in Greek, Mouses, stating that Mo is Egyptian for water, and uses means those rescued from it (Ant. 2.9.6 [2.228]; see also J. Gwyn Griffiths, “The Egyptian Derivation of the Name Moses,” JNES 12 [1953]: 225). But the solution to the name is not to be derived from the Greek rendering. Due to the estimation Egyptians had of the Nile, the princess would have thought of the child from the river as a supernatural provision. The Egyptian hieroglyphic ms can be the noun “child” or the perfective verb “be born.” This was often connected with divine elements for names: Ptah-mose, “Ptah is born.” Also the name Rameses (R’-m-sw) means “[the god] Re’ is he who has born him.” If the name Moses is Egyptian, there are some philological difficulties (see the above article for their treatment). The significance of all this is that when the child was named by the princess, an Egyptian word related to ms was used, meaning something like “child” or “born.” The name might have even been longer, perhaps having a theophoric element (divine name) with it – “child of [some god].” The name’s motivation came from the fact that she drew him from the Nile, the source of life in Egypt. But the sound of the name recalled for the Hebrews the verb “to draw out” in their own language. Translating the words of the princess into Hebrew allowed for the effective wordplay to capture the significance of the story in the sound of the name. The implication for the Israelites is something to this effect: “You called him ‘born one’ in your language and after your custom, but in our language that name means ‘drawing out’ – which is what was to become of him. You drew him out of the water, but he would draw us out of Egypt through the water.” So the circumstances of the story show Moses to be a man of destiny, and this naming episode summarizes how divine providence was at work in Israel. To the Israelites the name forever commemorated the portent of this event in the early life of the great deliverer (see Isa 63:11).

[2:1]  ²⁷ sn The chapter records the exceptional survival of Moses under the decree of death by Pharaoh (vv. 1-10), the flight of Moses from Pharaoh after killing the Egyptian (vv. 11-15), the marriage of Moses (vv. 16-22), and finally a note about the Lord’s hearing the sighing of the people in bondage (vv. 23-25). The first part is the birth. The Bible has several stories about miraculous or special births and deliverances of those destined to lead Israel. Their impact is essentially to authenticate the individual’s ministry. If the person’s beginning was providentially provided and protected by the Lord, then the mission must be of divine origin too. In this chapter the plot works around the decree for the death of the children – a decree undone by the women. The second part of the chapter records Moses’ flight and marriage. Having introduced the deliverer Moses in such an auspicious way, the chapter then records how this deliverer acted presumptuously and had to flee for his life. Any deliverance God desired had to be supernatural, as the chapter’s final note about answering prayer shows.

[2:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.” In other words, the tribe of Levi.

[2:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “went and took”; NASB “went and married.”

[2:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “a daughter of Levi.” The word “daughter” is used in the sense of “descendant” and connects the new account with Pharaoh’s command in 1:22. The words “a woman who was” are added for clarity in English.

[1:20]  ³¹ tn The verb וַיֵּיטֶב (vayyetev) is the Hiphil preterite of יָטַב (yatav). In this stem the word means “to cause good, treat well, treat favorably.” The vav (ו) consecutive shows that this favor from God was a result of their fearing and obeying him.

[1:21]  ³² tn Grk “you will call his name.”

[1:21]  ³³ sn The Greek form of the name Ihsous, which was translated into Latin as Jesus, is the same as the Hebrew Yeshua (Joshua), which means “Yahweh saves” (Yahweh is typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT). It was a fairly common name among Jews in 1st century Palestine, as references to a number of people by this name in the LXX and Josephus indicate.

[1:23]  ³⁴ tn Grk “they will call his name.”

[1:23]  ³⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 7:14.

[1:23]  ³⁶ tn Grk “is translated.”

[1:23]  ³⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 8:8, 10 (LXX).