Genesis 3:1

The Temptation and the Fall

3:1 Now ¹  the serpent ²  was more shrewd ³ 

than any of the wild animals ⁴  that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Is it really true that ⁵  God ⁶  said, ‘You must not eat from any tree of the orchard’?” ⁷ 

Genesis 3:17

3:17 But to Adam ⁸  he said,

“Because you obeyed ⁹  your wife

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground ¹⁰  thanks to you; ¹¹ 

in painful toil you will eat ¹²  of it all the days of your life.

Genesis 13:14

13:14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram, ¹³  “Look ¹⁴  from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west.

Genesis 22:2-3

22:2 God ¹⁵  said, “Take your son – your only son, whom you love, Isaac ¹⁶  – and go to the land of Moriah! ¹⁷  Offer him up there as a burnt offering ¹⁸  on one of the mountains which I will indicate to ¹⁹  you.”

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ²⁰  He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out ²¹  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Genesis 22:9

22:9 When they came to the place God had told him about, Abraham built the altar there ²²  and arranged the wood on it. Next he tied up ²³  his son Isaac and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.

Genesis 24:14

24:14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ²⁴  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ²⁵ 

Genesis 31:29

31:29 I have ²⁶  the power to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, ‘Be careful ²⁷  that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.’ ²⁸ 

Genesis 32:20

32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” ²⁹  Jacob thought, ³⁰  “I will first appease him ³¹  by sending a gift ahead of me. ³²  After that I will meet him. ³³  Perhaps he will accept me.” ³⁴ 

Genesis 38:11

38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ³⁵  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ³⁶  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Genesis 44:4

44:4 They had not gone very far from the city ³⁷  when Joseph said ³⁸  to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! ³⁹  When you overtake ⁴⁰  them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

Genesis 45:9

45:9 Now go up to my father quickly ⁴¹  and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay!

[3:1]  ¹ tn The chapter begins with a disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + predicate) that introduces a new character and a new scene in the story.

[3:1]  ² sn Many theologians identify or associate the serpent with Satan. In this view Satan comes in the disguise of a serpent or speaks through a serpent. This explains the serpent’s capacity to speak. While later passages in the Bible may indicate there was a satanic presence behind the serpent (see, for example, Rev 12:9), the immediate context pictures the serpent as simply one of the animals of the field created by God (see vv. 1, 14). An ancient Jewish interpretation explains the reference to the serpent in a literal manner, attributing the capacity to speak to all the animals in the orchard. This text (Jub. 3:28) states, “On that day [the day the man and woman were expelled from the orchard] the mouth of all the beasts and cattle and birds and whatever walked or moved was stopped from speaking because all of them used to speak to one another with one speech and one language [presumed to be Hebrew, see 12:26].” Josephus, Ant. 1.1.4 (1.41) attributes the serpent’s actions to jealousy. He writes that “the serpent, living in the company of Adam and his wife, grew jealous of the blessings which he supposed were destined for them if they obeyed God’s behests, and, believing that disobedience would bring trouble on them, he maliciously persuaded the woman to taste of the tree of wisdom.”

[3:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew word עָרוּם (’arum) basically means “clever.” This idea then polarizes into the nuances “cunning” (in a negative sense, see Job 5:12; 15:5), and “prudent” in a positive sense (Prov 12:16, 23; 13:16; 14:8, 15, 18; 22:3; 27:12). This same polarization of meaning can be detected in related words derived from the same root (see Exod 21:14; Josh 9:4; 1 Sam 23:22; Job 5:13; Ps 83:3). The negative nuance obviously applies in Gen 3, where the snake attempts to talk the woman into disobeying God by using half-truths and lies.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “animals of the field.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Indeed that God said.” The beginning of the quotation is elliptical and therefore difficult to translate. One must supply a phrase like “is it true”: “Indeed, [is it true] that God said.”

[3:1]  ⁶ sn God. The serpent does not use the expression “Yahweh God” [Lord God] because there is no covenant relationship involved between God and the serpent. He only speaks of “God.” In the process the serpent draws the woman into his manner of speech so that she too only speaks of “God.”

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “you must not eat from all the tree[s] of the orchard.” After the negated prohibitive verb, מִכֹּל (mikkol, “from all”) has the meaning “from any.” Note the construction in Lev 18:26, where the statement “you must not do from all these abominable things” means “you must not do any of these abominable things.” See Lev 22:25 and Deut 28:14 as well.

[3:17]  ⁸ tn Since there is no article on the word, the personal name is used, rather than the generic “the man” (cf. NRSV).

[3:17]  ⁹ tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” often means “obey.” The man “obeyed” his wife and in the process disobeyed God.

[3:17]  ¹⁰ sn For the ground to be cursed means that it will no longer yield its bounty as the blessing from God had promised. The whole creation, Paul writes in Rom 8:22, is still groaning under this curse, waiting for the day of redemption.

[3:17]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew phrase בַּעֲבוּרֶךָ (ba’avurekha) is more literally translated “on your account” or “because of you.” The idiomatic “thanks to you” in the translation tries to capture the point of this expression.

[3:17]  ¹² sn In painful toil you will eat. The theme of eating is prominent throughout Gen 3. The prohibition was against eating from the tree of knowledge. The sin was in eating. The interrogation concerned the eating from the tree of knowledge. The serpent is condemned to eat the dust of the ground. The curse focuses on eating in a “measure for measure” justice. Because the man and the woman sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, God will forbid the ground to cooperate, and so it will be through painful toil that they will eat.

[13:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the Lord said to Abram after Lot separated himself from with him.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse signals a new scene.

[13:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lift up your eyes and see.”

[22:2]  ²² tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:2]  ²³ sn Take your son…Isaac. The instructions are very clear, but the details are deliberate. With every additional description the commandment becomes more challenging.

[22:2]  ²⁴ sn There has been much debate over the location of Moriah; 2 Chr 3:1 suggests it may be the site where the temple was later built in Jerusalem.

[22:2]  ²⁵ sn A whole burnt offering signified the complete surrender of the worshiper and complete acceptance by God. The demand for a human sacrifice was certainly radical and may have seemed to Abraham out of character for God. Abraham would have to obey without fully understanding what God was about.

[22:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “which I will say to.”

[22:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

[22:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

[22:9]  ³⁶ sn Abraham built an altar there. The theme of Abraham’s altar building culminates here. He has been a faithful worshiper. Will he continue to worship when called upon to make such a radical sacrifice?

[22:9]  ³⁷ sn Then he tied up. This text has given rise to an important theme in Judaism known as the Aqedah, from the Hebrew word for “binding.” When sacrifices were made in the sanctuary, God remembered the binding of Isaac, for which a substitute was offered. See D. Polish, “The Binding of Isaac,” Jud 6 (1957): 17-21.

[24:14]  ⁴³ sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.

[24:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “And let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also give your camels water,’ – her you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac, and by it I will know that you have acted in faithfulness with my master.”

[31:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “there is to my hand.”

[31:29]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “watch yourself,” which is a warning to be on guard against doing something that is inappropriate.

[31:29]  ⁵² tn Heb “from speaking with Jacob from good to evil.” The precise meaning of the expression, which occurs only here and in v. 24, is uncertain. See the note on the same phrase in v. 24.

[32:20]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”

[32:20]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”

[32:20]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.

[32:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”

[32:20]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “I will see his face.”

[32:20]  ⁶² tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.

[38:11]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “said.”

[38:11]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

[44:4]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “they left the city, they were not far,” meaning “they had not gone very far.”

[44:4]  ⁷² tn Heb “and Joseph said.” This clause, like the first one in the verse, has the subject before the verb, indicating synchronic action.

[44:4]  ⁷³ tn Heb “arise, chase after the men.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[44:4]  ⁷⁴ tn After the imperative this perfect verbal form with vav consecutive has the same nuance of instruction. In the translation it is subordinated to the verbal form that follows (also a perfect with vav consecutive): “and overtake them and say,” becomes “when you overtake them, say.”

[45:9]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “hurry and go up.”