Genesis 3:6

3:6 When ¹  the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, ²  was attractive ³  to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, ⁴  she took some of its fruit and ate it. ⁵  She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it. ⁶ 

Genesis 3:22

3:22 And the Lord God said, “Now ⁷  that the man has become like one of us, ⁸  knowing ⁹  good and evil, he must not be allowed ¹⁰  to stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

Genesis 6:4

6:4 The Nephilim ¹¹  were on the earth in those days (and also after this) ¹²  when the sons of God were having sexual relations with ¹³  the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. ¹⁴  They were the mighty heroes ¹⁵  of old, the famous men. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 19:34

19:34 So in the morning the older daughter ¹⁷  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ¹⁸  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ¹⁹ 

Genesis 24:14

24:14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ ²⁰  In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.” ²¹ 

Genesis 27:33

27:33 Isaac began to shake violently ²²  and asked, “Then who else hunted game and brought it to me? I ate all of it just before you arrived, and I blessed him. ²³  He will indeed be blessed!”

Genesis 27:45

27:45 Stay there ²⁴  until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I’ll send someone to bring you back from there. ²⁵  Why should I lose both of you in one day?” ²⁶ 

Genesis 29:33

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ²⁷  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ²⁸ 

Genesis 30:15

30:15 But Leah replied, ²⁹  “Wasn’t it enough that you’ve taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes too?” “All right,” ³⁰  Rachel said, “he may sleep ³¹  with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”

Genesis 32:20

32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” ³²  Jacob thought, ³³  “I will first appease him ³⁴  by sending a gift ahead of me. ³⁵  After that I will meet him. ³⁶  Perhaps he will accept me.” ³⁷ 

Genesis 38:11

38:11 Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up.” For he thought, ³⁸  “I don’t want him to die like his brothers.” ³⁹  So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.

Genesis 42:28

42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; ⁴⁰  they turned trembling one to another ⁴¹  and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” ⁴² 

[3:6]  ¹ tn Heb “And the woman saw.” The clause can be rendered as a temporal clause subordinate to the following verb in the sequence.

[3:6]  ² tn Heb “that the tree was good for food.” The words “produced fruit that was” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.

[3:6]  ³ tn The Hebrew word תַּאֲוָה (ta’avah, translated “attractive” here) actually means “desirable.” This term and the later term נֶחְמָד (nekhmad, “desirable”) are synonyms.

[3:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “that good was the tree for food, and that desirable it was to the eyes, and desirable was the tree to make one wise.” On the connection between moral wisdom and the “knowledge of good and evil,” see the note on the word “evil” in 2:9.

[3:6]  ⁵ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied (here and also after “ate” at the end of this verse) for stylistic reasons.

[3:6]  ⁶ sn This pericope (3:1-7) is a fine example of Hebrew narrative structure. After an introductory disjunctive clause that introduces a new character and sets the stage (3:1), the narrative tension develops through dialogue, culminating in the action of the story. Once the dialogue is over, the action is told in a rapid sequence of verbs – she took, she ate, she gave, and he ate.

[3:22]  ⁷ tn The particle הֵן (hen) introduces a foundational clause, usually beginning with “since, because, now.”

[3:22]  ⁸ sn The man has become like one of us. See the notes on Gen 1:26 and 3:5.

[3:22]  ⁹ tn The infinitive explains in what way the man had become like God: “knowing good and evil.”

[3:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and now, lest he stretch forth.” Following the foundational clause, this clause forms the main point. It is introduced with the particle פֶּן (pen) which normally introduces a negative purpose, “lest….” The construction is elliptical; something must be done lest the man stretch forth his hand. The translation interprets the point intended.

[6:4]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew word נְפִילִים (nÿfilim) is simply transliterated here, because the meaning of the term is uncertain. According to the text, the Nephilim became mighty warriors and gained great fame in the antediluvian world. The text may imply they were the offspring of the sexual union of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of humankind” (v. 2), but it stops short of saying this in a direct manner. The Nephilim are mentioned in the OT only here and in Num 13:33, where it is stated that they were giants (thus KJV, TEV, NLT “giants” here). The narrator observes that the Anakites of Canaan were descendants of the Nephilim. Certainly these later Anakite Nephilim could not be descendants of the antediluvian Nephilim (see also the following note on the word “this”).

[6:4]  ¹⁴ tn This observation is parenthetical, explaining that there were Nephilim even after the flood. If all humankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, died in the flood, it is difficult to understand how the postdiluvian Nephilim could be related to the antediluvian Nephilim or how the Anakites of Canaan could be their descendants (see Num 13:33). It is likely that the term Nephilim refers generally to “giants” (see HALOT 709 s.v. נְפִילִים) without implying any ethnic connection between the antediluvian and postdiluvian varieties.

[6:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “were entering to,” referring euphemistically to sexual intercourse here. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the ongoing nature of such sexual unions during the time before the flood.

[6:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and they gave birth to them.” The masculine plural suffix “them” refers to the “sons of God,” to whom the “daughters of humankind” bore children. After the Qal form of the verb יָלָד (yalad, “to give birth”) the preposition לְ (lÿ, “to”) introduces the father of the child(ren). See Gen 16:1, 15; 17:19, 21; 21:2-3, 9; 22:23; 24:24, 47; 25:2, etc.

[6:4]  ¹⁷ tn The parenthetical/explanatory clause uses the word הַגִּבֹּרִים (haggibborim) to describe these Nephilim. The word means “warriors; mighty men; heroes.” The appositional statement further explains that they were “men of renown.” The text refers to superhuman beings who held the world in their power and who lived on in ancient lore outside the Bible. See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 45-46; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:379-80; and Anne D. Kilmer, “The Mesopotamian Counterparts of the Biblical Nephilim,” Perspectives on Language and Text, 39-43.

[6:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “men of name” (i.e., famous men).

[19:34]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the firstborn.”

[19:34]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”

[19:34]  ²¹ tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[24:14]  ²⁵ sn I will also give your camels water. It would be an enormous test for a young woman to water ten camels. The idea is that such a woman would not only be industrious but hospitable and generous.

[24:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “And let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jar that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink and I will also give your camels water,’ – her you have appointed for your servant, for Isaac, and by it I will know that you have acted in faithfulness with my master.”

[27:33]  ³¹ tn Heb “and Isaac trembled with a great trembling to excess.” The verb “trembled” is joined with a cognate accusative, which is modified by an adjective “great,” and a prepositional phrase “to excess.” All of this is emphatic, showing the violence of Isaac’s reaction to the news.

[27:33]  ³² tn Heb “Who then is he who hunted game and brought [it] to me so that I ate from all before you arrived and blessed him?”

[27:45]  ³⁷ tn The words “stay there” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[27:45]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and I will send and I will take you from there.” The verb “send” has no object in the Hebrew text; one must be supplied in the translation. Either “someone” or “a message” could be supplied, but since in those times a message would require a messenger, “someone” has been used.

[27:45]  ³⁹ tn If Jacob stayed, he would be killed and Esau would be forced to run away.

[29:33]  ⁴³ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ⁴⁴ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[30:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and she said to her”; the referent of the pronoun “she” (Leah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[30:15]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “therefore.”

[30:15]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “lie down.” The expression “lie down with” in this context (here and in the following verse) refers to sexual intercourse. The imperfect verbal form has a permissive nuance here.

[32:20]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”

[32:20]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”

[32:20]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.

[32:20]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”

[32:20]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “I will see his face.”

[32:20]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.

[38:11]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “said.”

[38:11]  ⁶² tn Heb “Otherwise he will die, also he, like his brothers.”

[42:28]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”

[42:28]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”

[42:28]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.