Genesis 29:19

29:19 Laban replied, “I’d rather give her to you than to another man. ¹  Stay with me.”

Genesis 8:7

8:7 and sent out a raven; it kept flying ²  back and forth until the waters had dried up on the earth.

Genesis 15:16

15:16 In the fourth generation ³  your descendants ⁴  will return here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit.” ⁵ 

Genesis 16:9

16:9 Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit ⁶  to her authority.

Genesis 18:14

18:14 Is anything impossible ⁷  for the Lord? I will return to you when the season comes round again and Sarah will have a son.” ⁸ 

Genesis 18:33

18:33 The Lord went on his way ⁹  when he had finished speaking ¹⁰  to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. ¹¹ 

Genesis 24:6

24:6 “Be careful ¹²  never to take my son back there!” Abraham told him. ¹³ 

Genesis 27:44

27:44 Live with him for a little while ¹⁴  until your brother’s rage subsides.

Genesis 28:21

28:21 and I return safely to my father’s home, ¹⁵  then the Lord will become my God.

Genesis 31:3

31:3 The Lord said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers ¹⁶  and to your relatives. I will be with you.” ¹⁷ 

Genesis 37:29-30

37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! ¹⁸  He tore his clothes, 37:30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”

Genesis 40:21

40:21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his former position ¹⁹  so that he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand,

Genesis 41:13

41:13 It happened just as he had said ²⁰  to us – Pharaoh ²¹  restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.” ²² 

[29:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Better my giving her to you than my giving her to another man.”

[8:7]  ² tn Heb “and it went out, going out and returning.” The Hebrew verb יָצָא (yatsa’), translated here “flying,” is modified by two infinitives absolute indicating that the raven went back and forth.

[15:16]  ³ sn The term generation is being used here in its widest sense to refer to a full life span. When the chronological factors are considered and the genealogies tabulated, there are four hundred years of bondage. This suggests that in this context a generation is equivalent to one hundred years.

[15:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (“your descendants”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[15:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “is not yet complete.”

[16:9]  ⁴ tn The imperative וְהִתְעַנִּי (vÿhit’anni) is the Hitpael of עָנָה (’anah, here translated “submit”), the same word used for Sarai’s harsh treatment of her. Hagar is instructed not only to submit to Sarai’s authority, but to whatever mistreatment that involves. God calls for Hagar to humble herself.

[18:14]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb פָּלָא (pala’) means “to be wonderful, to be extraordinary, to be surpassing, to be amazing.”

[18:14]  ⁶ sn Sarah will have a son. The passage brings God’s promise into clear focus. As long as it was a promise for the future, it really could be believed without much involvement. But now, when it seemed so impossible from the human standpoint, when the Lord fixed an exact date for the birth of the child, the promise became rather overwhelming to Abraham and Sarah. But then this was the Lord of creation, the one they had come to trust. The point of these narratives is that the creation of Abraham’s offspring, which eventually became Israel, is no less a miraculous work of creation than the creation of the world itself.

[18:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “And the Lord went.”

[18:33]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

[18:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “to his place.”

[24:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “guard yourself.”

[24:6]  ⁸ tn The introductory clause “And Abraham said to him” has been moved to the end of the opening sentence of direct discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:44]  ⁸ tn Heb “a few days.” Rebekah probably downplays the length of time Jacob will be gone, perhaps to encourage him and assure him that things will settle down soon. She probably expects Esau’s anger to die down quickly. However, Jacob ends up being gone twenty years and he never sees Rebekah again.

[28:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I return in peace to the house of my father.”

[31:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “ancestors” (so NRSV), although the only “ancestors” Jacob had there were his grandfather Abraham and his father Isaac.

[31:3]  ¹¹ sn I will be with you. Though Laban was no longer “with him,” the Lord promised to be.

[37:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.

[40:21]  ¹² tn Heb “his cupbearing.”

[41:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “interpreted.”

[41:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.