Genesis 31:30

31:30 Now I understand that ¹  you have gone away ²  because you longed desperately ³  for your father’s house. Yet why did you steal my gods?” ⁴ 

Genesis 35:2

35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you. ⁵  Purify yourselves and change your clothes. ⁶ 

Genesis 35:4

35:4 So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession ⁷  and the rings that were in their ears. ⁸  Jacob buried them ⁹  under the oak ¹⁰  near Shechem

Genesis 31:32

31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! ¹¹  In the presence of our relatives ¹²  identify whatever is yours and take it.” ¹³  (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) ¹⁴ 

Genesis 31:19

31:19 While Laban had gone to shear his sheep, ¹⁵  Rachel stole the household idols ¹⁶  that belonged to her father.

Genesis 31:34-35

31:34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle ¹⁷  and sat on them.) ¹⁸  Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them. ¹⁹  31:35 Rachel ²⁰  said to her father, “Don’t be angry, ²¹  my lord. I cannot stand up ²²  in your presence because I am having my period.” ²³  So he searched thoroughly, ²⁴  but did not find the idols.

Genesis 3:5

3:5 for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open ²⁵  and you will be like divine beings who know ²⁶  good and evil.” ²⁷ 

Genesis 9:6

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ²⁸ 

by other humans ²⁹ 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ³⁰ 

God ³¹  has made humankind.”

Genesis 31:33

31:33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols. ³²  Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s. ³³ 

Genesis 31:53

31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, ³⁴  the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob took an oath by the God whom his father Isaac feared. ³⁵ 

Genesis 21:23

21:23 Now swear to me right here in God’s name ³⁶  that you will not deceive me, my children, or my descendants. ³⁷  Show me, and the land ³⁸  where you are staying, ³⁹  the same loyalty ⁴⁰  that I have shown you.” ⁴¹ 

[31:30]  ¹ tn Heb “and now.” The words “I understand that” have been supplied in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[31:30]  ² tn The infinitive absolute appears before the perfect verbal form to emphasize the certainty of the action.

[31:30]  ³ tn The infinitive absolute appears before the perfect verbal form to emphasize the degree of emotion involved.

[31:30]  ⁴ sn Yet why did you steal my gods? This last sentence is dropped into the speech rather suddenly. See C. Mabee, “Jacob and Laban: The Structure of Judicial Proceedings,” VT 30 (1980): 192-207, and G. W. Coats, “Self-Abasement and Insult Formulas,” JBL 91 (1972): 90-92.

[35:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “which are in your midst.”

[35:2]  ⁶ sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.

[35:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “in their hand.”

[35:4]  ¹⁰ sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem (Genesis [WBC], 2:324).

[35:4]  ¹¹ sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.

[35:4]  ¹² tn Or “terebinth.”

[31:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”

[31:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

[31:32]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”

[31:32]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause (introduced here by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides supplemental material that is important to the story. Since this material is parenthetical in nature, it has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

[31:19]  ¹⁷ tn This disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + verb) introduces a new scene. In the English translation it may be subordinated to the following clause.

[31:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “household gods.” Some translations merely transliterate the Hebrew term תְּרָפִים (tÿrafim) as “teraphim,” which apparently refers to household idols. Some contend that possession of these idols guaranteed the right of inheritance, but it is more likely that they were viewed simply as protective deities. See M. Greenberg, “Another Look at Rachel’s Theft of the Teraphim,” JBL 81 (1962): 239-48.

[31:34]  ²¹ tn The “camel’s saddle” was probably some sort of basket-saddle, a cushioned saddle with a basket bound on. Cf. NAB “inside a camel cushion.”

[31:34]  ²² tn The disjunctive clause (introduced by a vav [ו] conjunction) provides another parenthetical statement necessary to the storyline.

[31:34]  ²³ tn The word “them” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[31:35]  ²⁵ tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[31:35]  ²⁶ tn Heb “let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord.” This idiom refers to anger, in this case as a result of Rachel’s failure to stand in the presence of her father as a sign of respect.

[31:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I am unable to rise.”

[31:35]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the way of women is to me.” This idiom refers to a woman’s menstrual period.

[31:35]  ²⁹ tn The word “thoroughly” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[3:5]  ²⁹ 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]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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.)

[9:6]  ³³ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ³⁵ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[31:33]  ³⁷ tn No direct object is specified for the verb “find” in the Hebrew text. The words “the idols” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[31:33]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and he went out from the tent of Leah and went into the tent of Rachel.”

[31:53]  ⁴¹ tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.

[31:53]  ⁴² tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.

[21:23]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “And now swear to me by God here.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “my offspring and my descendants.”

[21:23]  ⁴⁷ tn The word “land” refers by metonymy to the people in the land.

[21:23]  ⁴⁸ tn The Hebrew verb means “to stay, to live, to sojourn” as a temporary resident without ownership rights.

[21:23]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “kindness.”

[21:23]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “According to the loyalty which I have done with you, do with me and with the land in which you are staying.”