Genesis 3:21

3:21 The Lord God made garments from skin ¹  for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.

Genesis 12:2

12:2 Then I will make you ²  into a great nation, and I will bless you, ³ 

and I will make your name great, ⁴ 

so that you will exemplify divine blessing. ⁵ 

Genesis 18:17

18:17 Then the Lord said, “Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do? ⁶ 

Genesis 24:66

24:66 The servant told Isaac everything that had happened.

Genesis 29:22

29:22 So Laban invited all the people ⁷  of that place and prepared a feast.

Genesis 31:28

31:28 You didn’t even allow me to kiss my daughters and my grandchildren ⁸  good-bye. You have acted foolishly!

Genesis 38:10

38:10 What he did was evil in the Lord’s sight, so the Lord ⁹  killed him too.

[3:21]  ¹ sn The Lord God made garments from skin. The text gives no indication of how this was done, or how they came by the skins. Earlier in the narrative (v. 7) the attempt of the man and the woman to cover their nakedness with leaves expressed their sense of alienation from each other and from God. By giving them more substantial coverings, God indicates this alienation is greater than they realize. This divine action is also ominous; God is preparing them for the more hostile environment in which they will soon be living (v. 23). At the same time, there is a positive side to the story in that God makes provision for the man’s and woman’s condition.

[12:2]  ² tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.

[12:2]  ³ sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.

[12:2]  ⁴ tn Or “I will make you famous.”

[12:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.

[18:17]  ³ tn The active participle here refers to an action that is imminent.

[29:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “men.”

[31:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “my sons and my daughters.” Here “sons” refers to “grandsons,” and has been translated “grandchildren” since at least one granddaughter, Dinah, was involved. The order has been reversed in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[38:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.