Genesis 21:12

21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset ¹  about the boy or your slave wife. Do ²  all that Sarah is telling ³  you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted. ⁴ 

Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ⁵  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ⁶  – and go to the land of Moriah! ⁷  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁸  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁹  you.”

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. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 35:1

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ¹¹  to Bethel ¹²  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ¹³ 

Genesis 38:16

38:16 He turned aside to her along the road and said, “Come on! I want to have sex with you.” ¹⁴  (He did not realize ¹⁵  it was his daughter-in-law.) She asked, “What will you give me in exchange for having sex with you?” ¹⁶ 

Genesis 48:5

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. ¹⁷  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

[21:12]  ¹ tn Heb “Let it not be evil in your eyes.”

[21:12]  ² tn Heb “listen to her voice.” The idiomatic expression means “obey; comply.” Here her advice, though harsh, is necessary and conforms to the will of God. Later (see Gen 25), when Abraham has other sons, he sends them all away as well.

[21:12]  ³ tn The imperfect verbal form here draws attention to an action that is underway.

[21:12]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “will be named”; Heb “for in Isaac offspring will be called to you.” The exact meaning of the statement is not clear, but it does indicate that God’s covenantal promises to Abraham will be realized through Isaac, not Ishmael.

[22:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ⁶ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ⁷ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ⁸ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[31:52]  ⁹ 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.”

[35:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ¹⁵ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[38:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will go to you.” The imperfect verbal form probably indicates his desire here. The expression “go to” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for he did not know that.”

[38:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “when you come to me.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[48:5]  ²¹ sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.