Genesis 20:16

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ¹  to your ‘brother.’ ²  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ³ 

Genesis 23:9

23:9 if he will sell ⁴  me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly ⁵  for the full price, ⁶  so that I may own it as a burial site.”

Genesis 23:15

23:15 “Hear me, my lord. The land is worth ⁷  400 pieces of silver, ⁸  but what is that between me and you? So bury your dead.”

Genesis 24:35

24:35 “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy. ⁹  The Lord ¹⁰  has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 24:53

24:53 Then he ¹¹  brought out gold, silver jewelry, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave valuable gifts to her brother and to her mother.

Genesis 42:25

42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill ¹²  their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. ¹³ 

Genesis 42:27

42:27 When one of them ¹⁴  opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, ¹⁵  he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 43:15

43:15 So the men took these gifts, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they hurried down to Egypt ¹⁷  and stood before Joseph.

Genesis 45:22

45:22 He gave sets of clothes to each one of them, ¹⁸  but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of clothes. ¹⁹ 

[20:16]  ¹ sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).

[20:16]  ² sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).

[20:16]  ³ tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).

[23:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “give.” This is used here (also a second time later in this verse) as an idiom for “sell”; see the note on the word “grant” in v. 4.

[23:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your presence.”

[23:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “silver.”

[23:15]  ⁷ tn The word “worth” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:15]  ⁸ sn Four hundred pieces of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 4.6 kilograms, or 160 ounces (about 10 pounds).

[24:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Abraham’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are not excluded.

[24:35]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:53]  ¹³ tn Heb “the servant”; the noun has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120.f.

[42:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[42:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the one.” The article indicates that the individual is vivid in the mind of the narrator, yet it is not important to identify him by name.

[42:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “at the lodging place.”

[42:27]  ²¹ tn Heb “and look, it [was] in the mouth of his sack.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to look through the eyes of the character and thereby draws attention to the money.

[43:15]  ²² tn Heb “they arose and went down to Egypt.” The first verb has an adverbial function and emphasizes that they departed right away.

[45:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to all of them he gave, to each one, changes of outer garments.”

[45:22]  ²⁶ tn Heb “changes of outer garments.”