Genesis 28:8

28:8 Then Esau realized ¹  that the Canaanite women ²  were displeasing to ³  his father Isaac.

Genesis 29:16

29:16 (Now Laban had two daughters; ⁴  the older one was named Leah, and the younger one Rachel.

Genesis 30:13

30:13 Leah said, “How happy I am, ⁵  for women ⁶  will call me happy!” So she named him Asher. ⁷ 

Genesis 49:22

49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, ⁸ 

a fruitful bough near a spring

whose branches ⁹  climb over the wall.

[28:8]  ¹ tn Heb “saw.”

[28:8]  ² tn Heb “the daughters of Canaan.”

[28:8]  ³ tn Heb “evil in the eyes of.”

[29:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “and to Laban [there were] two daughters.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a prepositional phrase) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, vv. 16-17 have been set in parentheses in the translation.

[30:13]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew statement apparently means “with my happiness.”

[30:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “daughters.”

[30:13]  ⁹ sn The name Asher (אָשֶׁר, ’asher) apparently means “happy one.” The name plays on the words used in the statement which appears earlier in the verse. Both the Hebrew noun and verb translated “happy” and “call me happy,” respectively, are derived from the same root as the name Asher.

[49:22]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text appears to mean “[is] a son of fruitfulness.” The second word is an active participle, feminine singular, from the verb פָּרָה (parah, “to be fruitful”). The translation “bough” is employed for בֵּן (ben, elsewhere typically “son”) because Joseph is pictured as a healthy and fruitful vine growing by the wall. But there are difficulties with this interpretation. The word “son” nowhere else refers to a plant and the noun translated “branches” (Heb “daughters”) in the third line is a plural form whereas its verb is singular. In the other oracles of Gen 49 an animal is used for comparison and not a plant, leading some to translate the opening phrase בֵּן פָּרָה (ben parah, “fruitful bough”) as “wild donkey” (JPS, NAB). Various other interpretations involving more radical emendation of the text have also been offered.

[49:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “daughters.”