Genesis 3:17

3:17 But to Adam ¹  he said,

“Because you obeyed ²  your wife

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

‘You must not eat from it,’

cursed is the ground ³  thanks to you; ⁴ 

in painful toil you will eat ⁵  of it all the days of your life.

Genesis 22:3

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ⁶  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 ⁷  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Genesis 31:43

31:43 Laban replied ⁸  to Jacob, “These women ⁹  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ¹⁰  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ¹¹  or the children to whom they have given birth?

Genesis 34:30

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ¹²  on me by making me a foul odor ¹³  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ¹⁴  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

Genesis 38:25

38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word ¹⁵  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ¹⁶  Then she said, “Identify ¹⁷  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

Genesis 48:16

48:16 the Angel ¹⁸  who has protected me ¹⁹ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ²⁰ 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

[3:17]  ¹ tn Since there is no article on the word, the personal name is used, rather than the generic “the man” (cf. NRSV).

[3:17]  ² tn The idiom “listen to the voice of” often means “obey.” The man “obeyed” his wife and in the process disobeyed God.

[3:17]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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.

[22:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

[22:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

[31:43]  ¹¹ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[31:43]  ¹² tn Heb “daughters.”

[31:43]  ¹³ tn Heb “children.”

[31:43]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”

[34:30]  ¹⁶ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ¹⁷ tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ¹⁸ tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.

[38:25]  ²¹ tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.

[38:25]  ²² tn Heb “who these to him.”

[38:25]  ²³ tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”

[48:16]  ²⁶ sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.

[48:16]  ²⁷ tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).

[48:16]  ²⁸ tn Or “be recalled through them.”