Genesis 29:17

29:17 Leah’s eyes were tender, ¹  but Rachel had a lovely figure and beautiful appearance.) ² 

Genesis 18:7

18:7 Then Abraham ran to the herd and chose a fine, tender calf, and gave it to a servant, ³  who quickly prepared it. ⁴ 

Genesis 33:13

33:13 But Jacob ⁵  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ⁶  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ⁷  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

[29:17]  ¹ tn Heb “and the eyes of Leah were tender.” The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a conjunction and a noun) continues the parenthesis begun in v. 16. It is not clear what is meant by “tender” (or “delicate”) eyes. The expression may mean she had appealing eyes (cf. NAB, NRSV, NLT), though some suggest that they were plain, not having the brightness normally expected. Either way, she did not measure up to her gorgeous sister.

[29:17]  ² tn Heb “and Rachel was beautiful of form and beautiful of appearance.”

[18:7]  ³ tn Heb “the young man.”

[18:7]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the Piel preterite, “he hurried,” followed by the infinitive construct; the two probably form a verbal hendiadys: “he quickly prepared.”

[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.”