Genesis 2:25

2:25 The man and his wife were both naked, ¹  but they were not ashamed. ² 

Genesis 7:12

7:12 And the rain fell ³  on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Genesis 9:14

9:14 Whenever ⁴  I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds,

Genesis 9:25

9:25 So he said,

“Cursed ⁵  be Canaan! ⁶ 

The lowest of slaves ⁷ 

he will be to his brothers.”

Genesis 10:30

10:30 Their dwelling place was from Mesha all the way to ⁸  Sephar in the eastern hills.

Genesis 11:1

The Dispersion of the Nations at Babel

11:1 The whole earth ⁹  had a common language and a common vocabulary. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 12:2

12:2 Then I will make you ¹¹  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ¹² 

and I will make your name great, ¹³ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 17:4

17:4 “As for me, ¹⁵  this ¹⁶  is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations.

Genesis 35:28

35:28 Isaac lived to be 180 years old. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 36:11

36:11 The sons of Eliphaz were:

Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

Genesis 36:22

36:22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Homam; ¹⁸  Lotan’s sister was Timna.

Genesis 39:13

39:13 When she saw that he had left his outer garment in her hand and had run outside,

Genesis 41:53

41:53 The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end.

Genesis 42:31

42:31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies!

Genesis 46:33

46:33 Pharaoh will summon you and say, ‘What is your occupation?’

[2:25]  ¹ tn Heb “And the two of them were naked, the man and his wife.”

[2:25]  ² tn The imperfect verb form here has a customary nuance, indicating a continuing condition in past time. The meaning of the Hebrew term בּוֹשׁ (bosh) is “to be ashamed, to put to shame,” but its meaning is stronger than “to be embarrassed.” The word conveys the fear of exploitation or evil – enemies are put to shame through military victory. It indicates the feeling of shame that approximates a fear of evil.

[7:12]  ³ tn Heb “was.”

[9:14]  ⁵ tn The temporal indicator (וְהָיָה, vÿhayah, conjunction + the perfect verb form), often translated “it will be,” anticipates a future development.

[9:25]  ⁷ sn For more on the curse, see H. C. Brichto, The Problem of “Curse” in the Hebrew Bible (JBLMS), and J. Scharbert, TDOT 1:405-18.

[9:25]  ⁸ sn Cursed be Canaan. The curse is pronounced on Canaan, not Ham. Noah sees a problem in Ham’s character, and on the basis of that he delivers a prophecy about the future descendants who will live in slavery to such things and then be controlled by others. (For more on the idea of slavery in general, see E. M. Yamauchi, “Slaves of God,” BETS 9 [1966]: 31-49). In a similar way Jacob pronounced oracles about his sons based on their revealed character (see Gen 49).

[9:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “a servant of servants” (עֶבֶד עֲבָדִים, ’eved ’avadim), an example of the superlative genitive. It means Canaan will become the most abject of slaves.

[10:30]  ⁹ tn Heb “as you go.”

[11:1]  ¹¹ sn The whole earth. Here “earth” is a metonymy of subject, referring to the people who lived in the earth. Genesis 11 begins with everyone speaking a common language, but chap. 10 has the nations arranged by languages. It is part of the narrative art of Genesis to give the explanation of the event after the narration of the event. On this passage see A. P. Ross, “The Dispersion of the Nations in Genesis 11:1-9,” BSac 138 (1981): 119-38.

[11:1]  ¹² tn Heb “one lip and one [set of] words.” The term “lip” is a metonymy of cause, putting the instrument for the intended effect. They had one language. The term “words” refers to the content of their speech. They had the same vocabulary.

[12:2]  ¹³ tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.

[12:2]  ¹⁴ sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I will make you famous.”

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.

[17:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I.”

[17:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “is” (הִנֵּה, hinneh).

[35:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “And the days of Isaac were one hundred and eighty years.”

[36:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Hemam”; this is probably a variant spelling of “Homam” (1 Chr 1:39); cf. NRSV, NLT “Heman.”