Genesis 2:5

2:5 Now ¹  no shrub of the field had yet grown on the earth, and no plant of the field ²  had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. ³ 

Genesis 20:3

20:3 But God appeared ⁴  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ⁵  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ⁶ 

Genesis 29:33

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ⁷  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ⁸ 

Genesis 30:32

30:32 Let me walk among ⁹  all your flocks today and remove from them every speckled or spotted sheep, every dark-colored lamb, ¹⁰  and the spotted or speckled goats. ¹¹  These animals will be my wages. ¹² 

Genesis 31:32

31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! ¹³  In the presence of our relatives ¹⁴  identify whatever is yours and take it.” ¹⁵  (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) ¹⁶ 

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ¹⁷  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 33:10

33:10 “No, please take them,” Jacob said. ¹⁹  “If I have found favor in your sight, accept ²⁰  my gift from my hand. Now that I have seen your face and you have accepted me, ²¹  it is as if I have seen the face of God. ²² 

Genesis 43:29

43:29 When Joseph looked up ²³  and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ²⁴ 

[2:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Now every sprig of the field before it was.” The verb forms, although appearing to be imperfects, are technically preterites coming after the adverb טֶּרֶם (terem). The word order (conjunction + subject + predicate) indicates a disjunctive clause, which provides background information for the following narrative (as in 1:2). Two negative clauses are given (“before any sprig…”, and “before any cultivated grain” existed), followed by two causal clauses explaining them, and then a positive circumstantial clause is given – again dealing with water as in 1:2 (water would well up).

[2:5]  ² tn The first term, שִׂיחַ (siakh), probably refers to the wild, uncultivated plants (see Gen 21:15; Job 30:4,7); whereas the second, עֵשֶׂב (’esev), refers to cultivated grains. It is a way of saying: “back before anything was growing.”

[2:5]  ³ tn The two causal clauses explain the first two disjunctive clauses: There was no uncultivated, general growth because there was no rain, and there were no grains because there was no man to cultivate the soil.

[20:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “came.”

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.

[20:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

[29:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ⁸ 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.

[30:32]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “pass through.”

[30:32]  ¹¹ tn Or “every black lamb”; Heb “and every dark sheep among the lambs.”

[30:32]  ¹² tn Heb “and the spotted and speckled among the goats.”

[30:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “and it will be my wage.” The referent collective singular pronoun (“it) has been specified as “these animals” in the translation for clarity.

[31:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”

[31:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

[31:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”

[31:32]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, it has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

[31:53]  ¹⁶ tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.

[31:53]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[33:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and Jacob said, ‘No, please.’” The words “take them” have been supplied in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[33:10]  ²⁰ tn The form is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, expressing a contingent future nuance in the “then” section of the conditional sentence.

[33:10]  ²¹ tn The verbal form is the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive, indicating result here.

[33:10]  ²² tn Heb “for therefore I have seen your face like seeing the face of God and you have accepted me.”

[43:29]  ²² tn Heb “and he lifted his eyes.” The referent of “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[43:29]  ²³ sn Joseph’s language here becomes warmer and more personal, culminating in calling Benjamin my son.