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 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ⁶  was taking care of ⁷  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ⁸  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁹  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ¹⁰  to their father.

Genesis 38:25

38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word ¹¹  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ¹²  Then she said, “Identify ¹³  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

Genesis 42:16

42:16 One of you must go and get ¹⁴  your brother, while ¹⁵  the rest of you remain in prison. ¹⁶  In this way your words may be tested to see if ¹⁷  you are telling the truth. ¹⁸  If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

Genesis 43:18

43:18 But the men were afraid when they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of ¹⁹  the money that was returned in our sacks last time. ²⁰  He wants to capture us, ²¹  make us slaves, and take ²²  our donkeys!”

Genesis 48:16

48:16 the Angel ²³  who has protected me ²⁴ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ²⁵ 

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.

[37:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ⁷ tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[38:25]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “who these to him.”

[38:25]  ¹³ tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”

[42:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.

[42:16]  ¹⁷ tn The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.

[42:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “bound.”

[42:16]  ¹⁹ tn The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the truth [is] with you.”

[43:18]  ²¹ tn Heb “over the matter of.”

[43:18]  ²² tn Heb “in the beginning,” that is, at the end of their first visit.

[43:18]  ²³ tn Heb “to roll himself upon us and to cause himself to fall upon us.” The infinitives here indicate the purpose (as viewed by the brothers) for their being brought to Joseph’s house.

[43:18]  ²⁴ tn The word “take” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[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.”