Genesis 3:3

3:3 but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, ¹  or else you will die.’” ² 

Genesis 3:16

3:16 To the woman he said,

“I will greatly increase ³  your labor pains; ⁴ 

with pain you will give birth to children.

You will want to control your husband, ⁵ 

but he will dominate ⁶  you.”

Genesis 20:5

20:5 Did Abraham ⁷  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ⁸  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ⁹  and with innocent hands!”

Genesis 20:16

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ¹⁰  to your ‘brother.’ ¹¹  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ¹² 

Genesis 31:16

31:16 Surely all the wealth that God snatched away from our father belongs to us and to our children. So now do everything God has told you.”

Genesis 32:4

32:4 He commanded them, “This is what you must say to my lord Esau: ‘This is what your servant ¹³  Jacob says: I have been staying with Laban until now.

Genesis 41:54

41:54 Then the seven years of famine began, ¹⁴  just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Genesis 42:4

42:4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, ¹⁵  for he said, ¹⁶  “What if some accident ¹⁷  happens ¹⁸  to him?”

Genesis 43:5

43:5 But if you will not send him, we won’t go down there because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

Genesis 45:17

45:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go ¹⁹  to the land of Canaan!

[3:3]  ¹ sn And you must not touch it. The woman adds to God’s prohibition, making it say more than God expressed. G. von Rad observes that it is as though she wanted to set a law for herself by means of this exaggeration (Genesis [OTL], 86).

[3:3]  ² tn The Hebrew construction is פֶּן (pen) with the imperfect tense, which conveys a negative purpose: “lest you die” = “in order that you not die.” By stating the warning in this way, the woman omits the emphatic infinitive used by God (“you shall surely die,” see 2:17).

[3:16]  ³ tn The imperfect verb form is emphasized and intensified by the infinitive absolute from the same verb.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “your pain and your conception,” suggesting to some interpreters that having a lot of children was a result of the judgment (probably to make up for the loss through death). But the next clause shows that the pain is associated with conception and childbirth. The two words form a hendiadys (where two words are joined to express one idea, like “good and angry” in English), the second explaining the first. “Conception,” if the correct meaning of the noun, must be figurative here since there is no pain in conception; it is a synecdoche, representing the entire process of childbirth and child rearing from the very start. However, recent etymological research suggests the noun is derived from a root הרר (hrr), not הרה (hrh), and means “trembling, pain” (see D. Tsumura, “A Note on הרוֹן (Gen 3,16),” Bib 75 [1994]: 398-400). In this case “pain and trembling” refers to the physical effects of childbirth. The word עִצְּבוֹן (’itsÿvon, “pain”), an abstract noun related to the verb (עָצַב, ’atsav), includes more than physical pain. It is emotional distress as well as physical pain. The same word is used in v. 17 for the man’s painful toil in the field.

[3:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “and toward your husband [will be] your desire.” The nominal sentence does not have a verb; a future verb must be supplied, because the focus of the oracle is on the future struggle. The precise meaning of the noun תְּשׁוּקָה (tÿshuqah, “desire”) is debated. Many interpreters conclude that it refers to sexual desire here, because the subject of the passage is the relationship between a wife and her husband, and because the word is used in a romantic sense in Song 7:11 HT (7:10 ET). However, this interpretation makes little sense in Gen 3:16. First, it does not fit well with the assertion “he will dominate you.” Second, it implies that sexual desire was not part of the original creation, even though the man and the woman were told to multiply. And third, it ignores the usage of the word in Gen 4:7 where it refers to sin’s desire to control and dominate Cain. (Even in Song of Songs it carries the basic idea of “control,” for it describes the young man’s desire to “have his way sexually” with the young woman.) In Gen 3:16 the Lord announces a struggle, a conflict between the man and the woman. She will desire to control him, but he will dominate her instead. This interpretation also fits the tone of the passage, which is a judgment oracle. See further Susan T. Foh, “What is the Woman’s Desire?” WTJ 37 (1975): 376-83.

[3:16]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb מָשַׁל (mashal) means “to rule over,” but in a way that emphasizes powerful control, domination, or mastery. This also is part of the baser human nature. The translation assumes the imperfect verb form has an objective/indicative sense here. Another option is to understand it as having a modal, desiderative nuance, “but he will want to dominate you.” In this case, the Lord simply announces the struggle without indicating who will emerge victorious.

[20:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

[20:16]  ⁷ sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).

[20:16]  ⁸ sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).

[20:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).

[32:4]  ⁹ sn Your servant. The narrative recounts Jacob’s groveling in fear before Esau as he calls his brother his “lord,” as if to minimize what had been done twenty years ago.

[41:54]  ¹¹ tn Heb “began to arrive.”

[42:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “But Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, Jacob did not send with his brothers.” The disjunctive clause highlights the contrast between Benjamin and the other ten.

[42:4]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb אָמַר (’amar, “to say”) could also be translated “thought” (i.e., “he said to himself”) here, giving Jacob’s reasoning rather than spoken words.

[42:4]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew noun אָסוֹן (’ason) is a rare word meaning “accident, harm.” Apart from its use in these passages it occurs in Exodus 21:22-23 of an accident to a pregnant woman. The term is a rather general one, but Jacob was no doubt thinking of his loss of Joseph.

[42:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “encounters.”

[45:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and go! Enter!”