Genesis 3:14

3:14 The Lord God said to the serpent, ¹ 

“Because you have done this,

cursed ²  are you above all the wild beasts

and all the living creatures of the field!

On your belly you will crawl ³ 

and dust you will eat ⁴  all the days of your life.

Genesis 18:19

18:19 I have chosen him ⁵  so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep ⁶  the way of the Lord by doing ⁷  what is right and just. Then the Lord will give ⁸  to Abraham what he promised ⁹  him.”

Genesis 19:2

19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹⁰  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ¹¹  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ¹² 

Genesis 21:14

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took ¹³  some food ¹⁴  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ¹⁵  and sent her away. So she went wandering ¹⁶  aimlessly through the wilderness ¹⁷  of Beer Sheba.

Genesis 24:7

24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, ¹⁸  promised me with a solemn oath, ¹⁹  ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel ²⁰  before you so that you may find ²¹  a wife for my son from there.

Genesis 30:35

30:35 So that day Laban ²²  removed the male goats that were streaked or spotted, all the female goats that were speckled or spotted (all that had any white on them), and all the dark-colored lambs, and put them in the care ²³  of his sons.

Genesis 34:7

34:7 Now Jacob’s sons had come in from the field when they heard the news. ²⁴  They ²⁵  were offended ²⁶  and very angry because Shechem ²⁷  had disgraced Israel ²⁸  by sexually assaulting ²⁹  Jacob’s daughter, a crime that should not be committed. ³⁰ 

Genesis 38:14

38:14 So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because ³¹  she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.) ³² 

[3:14]  ¹ sn Note that God asks no question of the serpent, does not call for confession, as he did to the man and the woman; there is only the announcement of the curse. The order in this section is chiastic: The man is questioned, the woman is questioned, the serpent is cursed, sentence is passed on the woman, sentence is passed on the man.

[3:14]  ² tn The Hebrew word translated “cursed,” a passive participle from אָרָר (’arar), either means “punished” or “banished,” depending on how one interprets the following preposition. If the preposition is taken as comparative, then the idea is “cursed [i.e., punished] are you above [i.e., more than] all the wild beasts.” In this case the comparative preposition reflects the earlier comparison: The serpent was more shrewd than all others, and so more cursed than all others. If the preposition is taken as separative (see the note on the word “ground” in 4:11), then the idea is “cursed and banished from all the wild beasts.” In this case the serpent is condemned to isolation from all the other animals.

[3:14]  ³ tn Heb “go”; “walk,” but in English “crawl” or “slither” better describes a serpent’s movement.

[3:14]  ⁴ sn Dust you will eat. Being restricted to crawling on the ground would necessarily involve “eating dust,” although that is not the diet of the serpent. The idea of being brought low, of “eating dust” as it were, is a symbol of humiliation.

[18:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the Lord.

[18:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).

[18:19]  ⁷ tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the Lord.

[18:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.

[18:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “spoke to.”

[19:2]  ⁹ tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.

[19:2]  ¹⁰ tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”

[19:2]  ¹¹ sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.

[21:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”

[21:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[21:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”

[21:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “she went and wandered.”

[21:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.

[24:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the land of my birth.”

[24:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”

[24:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “his messenger.”

[24:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before you and you will take.”

[30:35]  ²¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Laban) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:35]  ²² tn Heb “and he gave [them] into the hand.”

[34:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “when they heard.” The words “the news” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[34:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the men.” This sounds as if a new group has been introduced into the narrative, so it has been translated as “they” to indicate that it refers to Jacob’s sons, mentioned in the first part of the verse.

[34:7]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew verb עָצַב (’atsav) can carry one of three semantic nuances depending on the context: (1) “to be injured” (Ps 56:5; Eccl 10:9; 1 Chr 4:10); (2) “to experience emotional pain; to be depressed emotionally; to be worried” (2 Sam 19:2; Isa 54:6; Neh 8:10-11); (3) “to be embarrassed; to be insulted; to be offended” (to the point of anger at another or oneself; Gen 6:6; 45:5; 1 Sam 20:3, 34; 1 Kgs 1:6; Isa 63:10; Ps 78:40). This third category develops from the second by metonymy. In certain contexts emotional pain leads to embarrassment and/or anger. In this last use the subject sometimes directs his anger against the source of grief (see especially Gen 6:6). The third category fits best in Gen 34:7 because Jacob’s sons were not merely wounded emotionally. On the contrary, Shechem’s action prompted them to strike out in judgment against the source of their distress.

[34:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Shechem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a disgraceful thing he did against Israel.”

[34:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “by lying with the daughter of Jacob.” The infinitive here explains the preceding verb, indicating exactly how he had disgraced Jacob. The expression “to lie with” is a euphemism for sexual relations, or in this case, sexual assault.

[34:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “and so it should not be done.” The negated imperfect has an obligatory nuance here, but there is also a generalizing tone. The narrator emphasizes that this particular type of crime (sexual assault) is especially reprehensible.

[38:14]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew text simply has “because,” connecting this sentence to what precedes. For stylistic reasons the words “she did this” are supplied in the translation and a new sentence begun.

[38:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not given to him as a wife.”