Genesis 22:2

22:2 God ¹  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ²  – and go to the land of Moriah! ³  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ⁴  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ⁵  you.”

Genesis 28:15

28:15 I am with you! ⁶  I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”

Genesis 35:1

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ⁷  to Bethel ⁸  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ⁹ 

Genesis 35:3

35:3 Let us go up at once ¹⁰  to Bethel. Then I will make ¹¹  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ¹²  and has been with me wherever I went.” ¹³ 

Genesis 37:17

37:17 The man said, “They left this area, ¹⁴  for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Genesis 37:35

37:35 All his sons and daughters stood by ¹⁵  him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” ¹⁶  So Joseph’s ¹⁷  father wept for him.

Genesis 44:17

44:17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found will become my slave, but the rest of ¹⁸  you may go back ¹⁹  to your father in peace.”

[22:2]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[28:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “Look, I [am] with you.” The clause is a nominal clause; the verb to be supplied could be present (as in the translation) or future, “Look, I [will be] with you” (cf. NEB).

[35:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ¹² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ¹³ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[35:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

[35:3]  ¹⁷ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

[35:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

[35:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

[37:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “they traveled from this place.”

[37:35]  ²⁶ tn Heb “arose, stood”; which here suggests that they stood by him in his time of grief.

[37:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Indeed I will go down to my son mourning to Sheol.’” Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death.

[37:35]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:17]  ³¹ tn The words “the rest of” have been supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[44:17]  ³² tn Heb “up” (reflecting directions from their point of view – “up” to Canaan; “down” to Egypt).