Genesis 25:18

25:18 His descendants ¹  settled from Havilah to Shur, which runs next ²  to Egypt all the way ³  to Asshur. ⁴  They settled ⁵  away from all their relatives. ⁶ 

Genesis 29:15

29:15 Then Laban said to Jacob, “Should you work ⁷  for me for nothing because you are my relative? ⁸  Tell me what your wages should be.”

Genesis 43:33

43:33 They sat before him, arranged by order of birth, beginning with the firstborn and ending with the youngest. ⁹  The men looked at each other in astonishment. ¹⁰ 

[25:18]  ¹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (Ishmael’s descendants) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[25:18]  ² tn Heb “which is by the face of,” or near the border. The territory ran along the border of Egypt.

[25:18]  ³ tn Heb “as you go.”

[25:18]  ⁴ sn The name Asshur refers here to a tribal area in the Sinai.

[25:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “he fell.”

[25:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “upon the face of all his brothers.” This last expression, obviously alluding to the earlier oracle about Ishmael (Gen 16:12), could mean that the descendants of Ishmael lived in hostility to others or that they lived in a territory that was opposite the lands of their relatives. While there is some ambiguity about the meaning, the line probably does give a hint of the Ishmaelite-Israelite conflicts to come.

[29:15]  ⁷ tn The verb is the perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; the nuance in the question is deliberative.

[29:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “my brother.” The term “brother” is used in a loose sense; actually Jacob was Laban’s nephew.

[43:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”

[43:33]  ¹⁴ sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.