Genesis 2:9

2:9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, ¹  every tree that was pleasing to look at ²  and good for food. (Now ³  the tree of life ⁴  and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil ⁵  were in the middle of the orchard.)

Genesis 3:22

3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now ⁶  that the man has become like one of us, ⁷  knowing ⁸  good and evil, he must not be allowed ⁹  to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Genesis 19:19

19:19 Your ¹⁰  servant has found favor with you, ¹¹  and you have shown me great ¹²  kindness ¹³  by sparing ¹⁴  my life. But I am not able to escape to the mountains because ¹⁵  this disaster will overtake ¹⁶  me and I’ll die. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 31:52

31:52 “This pile of stones and the pillar are reminders that I will not pass beyond this pile to come to harm you and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to come to harm me. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹⁹  was taking care of ²⁰  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ²¹  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ²²  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ²³  to their father.

Genesis 39:9

39:9 There is no one greater in this household than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you because you are his wife. So how could I do ²⁴  such a great evil and sin against God?”

Genesis 41:19

41:19 Then ²⁵  seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows ²⁶  as these in all the land of Egypt!

Genesis 44:4

44:4 They had not gone very far from the city ²⁷  when Joseph said ²⁸  to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! ²⁹  When you overtake ³⁰  them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

Genesis 47:9

47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “All ³¹  the years of my travels ³²  are 130. All ³³  the years of my life have been few and painful; ³⁴  the years of my travels are not as long as those of my ancestors.” ³⁵ 

Genesis 48:16

48:16 the Angel ³⁶  who has protected me ³⁷ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ³⁸ 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

Genesis 50:15

50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay ³⁹  us in full ⁴⁰  for all the harm ⁴¹  we did to him?”

Genesis 50:17

50:17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. ⁴² 

[2:9]  ¹ tn Heb “ground,” referring to the fertile soil.

[2:9]  ² tn Heb “desirable of sight [or “appearance”].” The phrase describes the kinds of trees that are visually pleasing and yield fruit that is desirable to the appetite.

[2:9]  ³ tn The verse ends with a disjunctive clause providing a parenthetical bit of information about the existence of two special trees in the garden.

[2:9]  ⁴ tn In light of Gen 3:22, the construction “tree of life” should be interpreted to mean a tree that produces life-giving fruit (objective genitive) rather than a living tree (attributive genitive). See E. O. James, The Tree of Life (SHR); and R. Marcus, “The Tree of Life in Proverbs,” JBL 62 (1943): 117-20.

[2:9]  ⁵ tn The expression “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” must be interpreted to mean that the tree would produce fruit which, when eaten, gives special knowledge of “good and evil.” Scholars debate what this phrase means here. For a survey of opinions, see G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:62-64. One view is that “good” refers to that which enhances, promotes, and produces life, while “evil” refers to anything that hinders, interrupts or destroys life. So eating from this tree would change human nature – people would be able to alter life for better (in their thinking) or for worse. See D. J. A. Clines, “The Tree of Knowledge and the Law of Yahweh,” VT 24 (1974): 8-14; and I. Engnell, “‘Knowledge’ and ‘Life’ in the Creation Story,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 103-19. Another view understands the “knowledge of good and evil” as the capacity to discern between moral good and evil. The following context suggests the tree’s fruit gives one wisdom (see the phrase “capable of making one wise” in 3:6, as well as the note there on the word “wise”), which certainly includes the capacity to discern between good and evil. Such wisdom is characteristic of divine beings, as the serpent’s promise implies (3:5) and as 3:22 makes clear. (Note, however, that this capacity does not include the ability to do what is right.) God prohibits man from eating of the tree. The prohibition becomes a test to see if man will be satisfied with his role and place, or if he will try to ascend to the divine level. There will be a time for man to possess moral discernment/wisdom, as God reveals and imparts it to him, but it is not something to be grasped at in an effort to become “a god.” In fact, the command to be obedient was the first lesson in moral discernment/wisdom. God was essentially saying: “Here is lesson one – respect my authority and commands. Disobey me and you will die.” When man disobeys, he decides he does not want to acquire moral wisdom God’s way, but instead tries to rise immediately to the divine level. Once man has acquired such divine wisdom by eating the tree’s fruit (3:22), he must be banned from the garden so that he will not be able to achieve his goal of being godlike and thus live forever, a divine characteristic (3:24). Ironically, man now has the capacity to discern good from evil (3:22), but he is morally corrupted and rebellious and will not consistently choose what is right.

[3:22]  ⁶ tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a foundational clause, usually beginning with “since, because, now.”

[3:22]  ⁷ sn The man has become like one of us. See the notes on Gen 1:26 and 3:5.

[3:22]  ⁸ tn The infinitive explains in what way the man had become like God: “knowing good and evil.”

[3:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and now, lest he stretch forth.” Following the foundational clause, this clause forms the main point. It is introduced with the particle פֶּן (pen) which normally introduces a negative purpose, “lest….” The construction is elliptical; something must be done lest the man stretch forth his hand. The translation interprets the point intended.

[19:19]  ¹¹ tn The second person pronominal suffixes are singular in this verse (note “your eyes,” “you have made great,” and “you have acted”). Verse 18a seems to indicate that Lot is addressing the angels, but the use of the singular and the appearance of the divine title “Lord” (אֲדֹנָי, ’adonay) in v. 18b suggests he is speaking to God.

[19:19]  ¹² tn Heb “in your eyes.”

[19:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “you made great your kindness.”

[19:19]  ¹⁴ sn The Hebrew word חֶסֶד (khesed) can refer to “faithful love” or to “kindness,” depending on the context. The precise nuance here is uncertain.

[19:19]  ¹⁵ tn The infinitive construct explains how God has shown Lot kindness.

[19:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lest.”

[19:19]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb דָּבַק (davaq) normally means “to stick to, to cleave, to join.” Lot is afraid he cannot outrun the coming calamity.

[19:19]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect verb form with vav consecutive carries the nuance of the imperfect verbal form before it.

[31:52]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “This pile is a witness and the pillar is a witness, if I go past this pile to you and if you go past this pile and this pillar to me for harm.”

[37:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ²² tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ²³ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[39:9]  ²⁶ tn The nuance of potential imperfect fits this context.

[41:19]  ³¹ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:19]  ³² tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[44:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “they left the city, they were not far,” meaning “they had not gone very far.”

[44:4]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and Joseph said.” This clause, like the first one in the verse, has the subject before the verb, indicating synchronic action.

[44:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “arise, chase after the men.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[44:4]  ³⁹ tn After the imperative this perfect verbal form with vav consecutive has the same nuance of instruction. In the translation it is subordinated to the verbal form that follows (also a perfect with vav consecutive): “and overtake them and say,” becomes “when you overtake them, say.”

[47:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.

[47:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the days of.”

[47:9]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew word רַע (ra’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.

[47:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”

[48:16]  ⁴⁶ sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.

[48:16]  ⁴⁷ tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).

[48:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “be recalled through them.”

[50:15]  ⁵¹ tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.

[50:15]  ⁵² tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”

[50:15]  ⁵³ tn Or “evil.”

[50:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”