Genesis 21:28

21:28 Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs apart from the flock by themselves.

Genesis 43:32

43:32 They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, ¹  and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting ²  to do so.) ³ 

Genesis 2:18

2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. ⁴  I will make a companion ⁵  for him who corresponds to him.” ⁶ 

Genesis 21:29

21:29 Abimelech asked Abraham, “What is the meaning of these ⁷  seven ewe lambs that you have set apart?”

Genesis 32:24

32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man ⁸  wrestled ⁹  with him until daybreak. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ¹¹  in the days of Abraham. ¹²  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ¹³  his servants, who divided them into herds. ¹⁴  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

Genesis 44:20

44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. ¹⁵  The boy’s ¹⁶  brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, ¹⁷  and his father loves him.’

Genesis 46:26

46:26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.) ¹⁸ 

Genesis 30:40

30:40 Jacob removed these lambs, but he made the rest of the flock face ¹⁹  the streaked and completely dark-colored animals in Laban’s flock. So he made separate flocks for himself and did not mix them with Laban’s flocks.

Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ²⁰  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ²¹  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ²²  in sorrow to the grave.” ²³ 

Genesis 47:26

47:26 So Joseph made it a statute, ²⁴  which is in effect ²⁵  to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

[43:32]  ¹ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[43:32]  ² tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.

[43:32]  ³ tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.

[2:18]  ¹ tn Heb “The being of man by himself is not good.” The meaning of “good” must be defined contextually. Within the context of creation, in which God instructs humankind to be fruitful and multiply, the man alone cannot comply. Being alone prevents the man from fulfilling the design of creation and therefore is not good.

[2:18]  ² tn Traditionally “helper.” The English word “helper,” because it can connote so many different ideas, does not accurately convey the connotation of the Hebrew word עֵזֶר (’ezer). Usage of the Hebrew term does not suggest a subordinate role, a connotation which English “helper” can have. In the Bible God is frequently described as the “helper,” the one who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, the one who meets our needs. In this context the word seems to express the idea of an “indispensable companion.” The woman would supply what the man was lacking in the design of creation and logically it would follow that the man would supply what she was lacking, although that is not stated here. See further M. L. Rosenzweig, “A Helper Equal to Him,” Jud 139 (1986): 277-80.

[2:18]  ³ tn The Hebrew expression כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (kÿnegdo) literally means “according to the opposite of him.” Translations such as “suitable [for]” (NASB, NIV), “matching,” “corresponding to” all capture the idea. (Translations that render the phrase simply “partner” [cf. NEB, NRSV], while not totally inaccurate, do not reflect the nuance of correspondence and/or suitability.) The man’s form and nature are matched by the woman’s as she reflects him and complements him. Together they correspond. In short, this prepositional phrase indicates that she has everything that God had invested in him.

[21:29]  ¹ tn Heb “What are these?”

[32:24]  ¹ sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.

[32:24]  ² sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.

[32:24]  ³ tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”

[26:1]  ¹ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ² sn This account is parallel to two similar stories about Abraham (see Gen 12:10-20; 20:1-18). Many scholars do not believe there were three similar incidents, only one that got borrowed and duplicated. Many regard the account about Isaac as the original, which then was attached to the more important person, Abraham, with supernatural elements being added. For a critique of such an approach, see R. Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative, 47-62. It is more likely that the story illustrates the proverb “like father, like son” (see T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 53). In typical human fashion the son follows his father’s example of lying to avoid problems. The appearance of similar events reported in a similar way underscores the fact that the blessing has now passed to Isaac, even if he fails as his father did.

[32:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ² tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.

[44:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.

[44:20]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:20]  ³ tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”

[46:26]  ¹ tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”

[30:40]  ¹ tn Heb “and he set the faces of.”

[42:38]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ² sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ³ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ⁴ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[47:26]  ¹ tn On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” VT 16 (1966): 358-61.

[47:26]  ² tn The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.