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 22:3

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ⁵  He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out ⁶  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Genesis 22:12

22:12 “Do not harm the boy!” ⁷  the angel said. ⁸  “Do not do anything to him, for now I know ⁹  that you fear ¹⁰  God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.”

Genesis 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹¹  was taking care of ¹²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ¹³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ¹⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ¹⁵  to their father.

Genesis 43:8

43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. ¹⁶  Then we will live ¹⁷  and not die – we and you and our little ones.

Genesis 48:16

48:16 the Angel ¹⁸  who has protected me ¹⁹ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ²⁰ 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

[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.

[22:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

[22:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

[22:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “Do not extend your hand toward the boy.”

[22:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Do not extend…’”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the context for clarity. The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[22:12]  ¹¹ sn For now I know. The test was designed to see if Abraham would be obedient (see v. 1).

[22:12]  ¹² sn In this context fear refers by metonymy to obedience that grows from faith.

[37:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[43:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”

[43:8]  ¹⁸ tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.

[48:16]  ²¹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Or “be recalled through them.”