Genesis 3:5

3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open ¹  and you will be like divine beings who know ²  good and evil.” ³ 

Genesis 4:1

The Story of Cain and Abel

4:1 Now ⁴  the man had marital relations with ⁵  his wife Eve, and she became pregnant ⁶  and gave birth to Cain. Then she said, “I have created ⁷  a man just as the Lord did!” ⁸ 

Genesis 15:13

15:13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “Know for certain ⁹  that your descendants will be strangers ¹⁰  in a foreign country. ¹¹  They will be enslaved and oppressed ¹²  for four hundred years.

Genesis 19:33

19:33 So that night they made their father drunk with wine, ¹³  and the older daughter ¹⁴  came and had sexual relations with her father. ¹⁵  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 19:35

19:35 So they made their father drunk ¹⁷  that night as well, and the younger one came and had sexual relations with him. ¹⁸  But he was not aware that she had sexual relations with him and then got up. ¹⁹ 

Genesis 25:27

25:27 When the boys grew up, Esau became a skilled ²⁰  hunter, a man of the open fields, but Jacob was an even-tempered man, living in tents. ²¹ 

Genesis 33:13

33:13 But Jacob ²²  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ²³  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ²⁴  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

Genesis 39:8

39:8 But he refused, saying ²⁵  to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not give any thought ²⁶  to his household with me here, ²⁷  and everything that he owns he has put into my care. ²⁸ 

[3:5]  ¹ tn Or “you will have understanding.” This obviously refers to the acquisition of the “knowledge of good and evil,” as the next statement makes clear.

[3:5]  ² tn Or perhaps “like God, knowing.” It is unclear how the plural participle translated “knowing” is functioning. On the one hand, יֹדְעֵי (yodÿ’e) could be taken as a substantival participle functioning as a predicative adjective in the sentence. In this case one might translate: “You will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil.” On the other hand, it could be taken as an attributive adjective modifying אֱלֹהִים (’elohim). In this case אֱלֹהִים has to be taken as a numerical plural referring to “gods,” “divine beings,” for if the one true God were the intended referent, a singular form of the participle would almost certainly appear as a modifier. Following this line of interpretation, one could translate, “You will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” The following context may favor this translation, for in 3:22 God says to an unidentified group, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” It is probable that God is addressing his heavenly court (see the note on the word “make” in 1:26), the members of which can be called “gods” or “divine beings” from the ancient Israelite perspective. (We know some of these beings as messengers or “angels.”) An examination of parallel constructions shows that a predicative understanding (“you will be, like God himself, knowers of good and evil,” cf. NIV, NRSV) is possible, but rare (see Gen 27:23, where “hairy” is predicative, complementing the verb “to be”). The statistical evidence strongly suggests that the participle is attributive, modifying “divine beings” (see Ps 31:12; Isa 1:30; 13:14; 16:2; 29:5; 58:11; Jer 14:9; 20:9; 23:9; 31:12; 48:41; 49:22; Hos 7:11; Amos 4:11). In all of these texts, where a comparative clause and accompanying adjective/participle follow a copulative (“to be”) verb, the adjective/participle is attributive after the noun in the comparative clause.

[3:5]  ³ sn You will be like divine beings who know good and evil. The serpent raises doubts about the integrity of God. He implies that the only reason for the prohibition was that God was protecting the divine domain. If the man and woman were to eat, they would enter into that domain. The temptation is to overstep divinely established boundaries. (See D. E. Gowan, When Man Becomes God [PTMS], 25.)

[4:1]  ⁴ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new episode in the ongoing narrative.

[4:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the man knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Or “she conceived.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Here is another sound play (paronomasia) on a name. The sound of the verb קָנִיתִי (qaniti, “I have created”) reflects the sound of the name Cain in Hebrew (קַיִן, qayin) and gives meaning to it. The saying uses the Qal perfect of קָנָה (qanah). There are two homonymic verbs with this spelling, one meaning “obtain, acquire” and the other meaning “create” (see Gen 14:19, 22; Deut 32:6; Ps 139:13; Prov 8:22). The latter fits this context very well. Eve has created a man.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “with the Lord.” The particle אֶת־ (’et) is not the accusative/object sign, but the preposition “with” as the ancient versions attest. Some take the preposition in the sense of “with the help of” (see BDB 85 s.v. אֵת; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV), while others prefer “along with” in the sense of “like, equally with, in common with” (see Lev 26:39; Isa 45:9; Jer 23:28). Either works well in this context; the latter is reflected in the present translation. Some understand אֶת־ as the accusative/object sign and translate, “I have acquired a man – the Lord.” They suggest that the woman thought (mistakenly) that she had given birth to the incarnate Lord, the Messiah who would bruise the Serpent’s head. This fanciful suggestion is based on a questionable allegorical interpretation of Gen 3:15 (see the note there on the word “heel”).

[15:13]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic, with the Qal infinitive absolute followed by the imperfect from יָדַע (yada’, “know”). The imperfect here has an obligatory or imperatival force.

[15:13]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word גֵּר (ger, “sojourner, stranger”) is related to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to stay for awhile”). Abram’s descendants will stay in a land as resident aliens without rights of citizenship.

[15:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “in a land not theirs.”

[15:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and they will serve them and they will oppress them.” The verb עִנּוּ, (’innu, a Piel form from עָנָה, ’anah, “to afflict, to oppress, to treat harshly”), is used in Exod 1:11 to describe the oppression of the Israelites in Egypt.

[19:33]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:33]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:33]  ¹² tn Heb “and the firstborn came and lied down with her father.” The expression “lied down with” here and in the following verses is a euphemism for sexual relations.

[19:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he did not know when she lay down and when she arose.”

[19:35]  ¹³ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:35]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lied down with him.”

[19:35]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”

[25:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “knowing.”

[25:27]  ¹⁷ tn The disjunctive clause juxtaposes Jacob with Esau and draws attention to the striking contrasts. In contrast to Esau, a man of the field, Jacob was civilized, as the phrase “living in tents” signifies. Whereas Esau was a skillful hunter, Jacob was calm and even-tempered (תָּם, tam), which normally has the idea of “blameless.”

[33:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “weak.”

[33:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

[39:8]  ²² tn Heb “and he said.”

[39:8]  ²³ tn Heb “know.”

[39:8]  ²⁴ tn The word “here” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[39:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.