Genesis 25:31

25:31 But Jacob replied, “First ¹  sell me your birthright.”

Genesis 26:18

26:18 Isaac reopened ²  the wells that had been dug ³  back in the days of his father Abraham, for the Philistines had stopped them up ⁴  after Abraham died. Isaac ⁵  gave these wells ⁶  the same names his father had given them. ⁷ 

Genesis 27:41

27:41 So Esau hated ⁸  Jacob because of the blessing his father had given to his brother. ⁹  Esau said privately, ¹⁰  “The time ¹¹  of mourning for my father is near; then I will kill ¹²  my brother Jacob!”

Genesis 32:32

32:32 That is why to this day ¹³  the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck ¹⁴  the socket of Jacob’s hip near the attached sinew.

Genesis 33:13

33:13 But Jacob ¹⁵  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ¹⁶  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ¹⁷  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

Genesis 35:3

35:3 Let us go up at once ¹⁸  to Bethel. Then I will make ¹⁹  an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress ²⁰  and has been with me wherever I went.” ²¹ 

Genesis 47:26

47:26 So Joseph made it a statute, ²²  which is in effect ²³  to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

[25:31]  ¹ tn Heb “today.”

[26:18]  ² tn Heb “he returned and dug,” meaning “he dug again” or “he reopened.”

[26:18]  ³ tn Heb “that they dug.” Since the subject is indefinite, the verb is translated as passive.

[26:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the Philistines had stopped them up.” This clause explains why Isaac had to reopen them.

[26:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Isaac) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wells) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “called names to them according to the names that his father called them.”

[27:41]  ³ tn Or “bore a grudge against” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV). The Hebrew verb שָׂטַם (satam) describes persistent hatred.

[27:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “because of the blessing which his father blessed him.”

[27:41]  ⁵ tn Heb “said in his heart.” The expression may mean “said to himself.” Even if this is the case, v. 42 makes it clear that he must have shared his intentions with someone, because the news reached Rebekah.

[27:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “days.”

[27:41]  ⁷ tn The cohortative here expresses Esau’s determined resolve to kill Jacob.

[32:32]  ⁴ sn On the use of the expression to this day, see B. S. Childs, “A Study of the Formula ‘Until This Day’,” JBL 82 (1963): 279-92.

[32:32]  ⁵ tn Or “because the socket of Jacob’s hip was struck.” Some translations render this as an impersonal passive. On the translation of the word “struck” see the note on this term in v. 25.

[33:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “weak.”

[33:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.

[35:3]  ⁷ tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.

[35:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.

[35:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).

[47:26]  ⁷ tn On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” VT 16 (1966): 358-61.

[47:26]  ⁸ tn The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.