Genesis 27:29

27:29 May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

You will be ¹  lord ²  over your brothers,

and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. ³ 

May those who curse you be cursed,

and those who bless you be blessed.”

Genesis 27:37

27:37 Isaac replied to Esau, “Look! I have made him lord over you. I have made all his relatives his servants and provided him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

Genesis 37:8

37:8 Then his brothers asked him, “Do you really think you will rule over us or have dominion over us?” ⁴  They hated him even more ⁵  because of his dream and because of what he said. ⁶ 

Genesis 44:9

44:9 If one of us has it, ⁷  he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves!”

Genesis 44:1

The Final Test

44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

Genesis 26:17

26:17 So Isaac left there and settled in the Gerar Valley. ⁸ 

Genesis 26:1

Isaac and Abimelech

26:1 There was a famine in the land, subsequent to the earlier famine that occurred ⁹  in the days of Abraham. ¹⁰  Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.

Genesis 18:7

18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, ¹¹  who quickly prepared it. ¹² 

[27:29]  ¹ tn Heb “and be.” The verb is an imperative, which is used rhetorically in this oracle of blessing. It is an invitation to exercise authority his brothers and indicates that he is granted such authority by the patriarch of the family. Furthermore, the blessing enables the recipient to accomplish this.

[27:29]  ² tn The Hebrew word is גְבִיר (gevir, “lord, mighty one”). The one being blessed will be stronger and therefore more powerful than his brother. See Gen 25:23. The feminine form of this rare noun means “mistress” or “queen-mother.”

[27:29]  ³ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (which is either an imperfect or a jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.

[37:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “Ruling, will you rule over us, or reigning, will you reign over us?” The statement has a poetic style, with the two questions being in synonymous parallelism. Both verbs in this statement are preceded by the infinitive absolute, which lends emphasis. It is as if Joseph’s brothers said, “You don’t really think you will rule over us, do you? You don’t really think you will have dominion over us, do you?”

[37:8]  ⁵ tn This construction is identical to the one in Gen 37:5.

[37:8]  ⁶ sn The response of Joseph’s brothers is understandable, given what has already been going on in the family. But here there is a hint of uneasiness – they hated him because of his dream and because of his words. The dream bothered them, as well as his telling them. And their words in the rhetorical question are ironic, for this is exactly what would happen. The dream was God’s way of revealing it.

[44:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “The one with whom it is found from your servants.” Here “your servants” (a deferential way of referring to the brothers themselves) has been translated by the pronoun “us” to avoid confusion with Joseph’s servants.

[26:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he camped in the valley of Gerar and he lived there.”

[26:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “in addition to the first famine which was.”

[26:1]  ¹⁰ 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.

[18:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the young man.”

[18:7]  ¹² tn The construction uses the Piel preterite, “he hurried,” followed by the infinitive construct; the two probably form a verbal hendiadys: “he quickly prepared.”