Genesis 33:12

33:12 Then Esau ¹  said, “Let’s be on our way! ²  I will go in front of you.”

Genesis 2:18

2:18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. ³  I will make a companion ⁴  for him who corresponds to him.” ⁵ 

Genesis 21:16

21:16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot ⁶  away; for she thought, ⁷  “I refuse to watch the child die.” ⁸  So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably. ⁹ 

Genesis 2:20

2:20 So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam ¹⁰  no companion who corresponded to him was found. ¹¹ 

Genesis 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ¹²  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ¹³  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ¹⁴ 

Genesis 31:32

31:32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death! ¹⁵  In the presence of our relatives ¹⁶  identify whatever is yours and take it.” ¹⁷  (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.) ¹⁸ 

Genesis 47:15

47:15 When the money from the lands of Egypt and Canaan was used up, all the Egyptians ¹⁹  came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die ²⁰  before your very eyes because our money has run out?”

[33:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ² tn Heb “let us travel and let us go.” The two cohortatives are used in combination with the sense, “let’s travel along, get going, be on our way.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Heb “The being of man by himself is not good.” The meaning of “good” must be defined contextually. Within the context of creation, in which God instructs humankind to be fruitful and multiply, the man alone cannot comply. Being alone prevents the man from fulfilling the design of creation and therefore is not good.

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Traditionally “helper.” The English word “helper,” because it can connote so many different ideas, does not accurately convey the connotation of the Hebrew word עֵזֶר (’ezer). Usage of the Hebrew term does not suggest a subordinate role, a connotation which English “helper” can have. In the Bible God is frequently described as the “helper,” the one who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves, the one who meets our needs. In this context the word seems to express the idea of an “indispensable companion.” The woman would supply what the man was lacking in the design of creation and logically it would follow that the man would supply what she was lacking, although that is not stated here. See further M. L. Rosenzweig, “A Helper Equal to Him,” Jud 139 (1986): 277-80.

[2:18]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew expression כְּנֶגְדּוֹ (kÿnegdo) literally means “according to the opposite of him.” Translations such as “suitable [for]” (NASB, NIV), “matching,” “corresponding to” all capture the idea. (Translations that render the phrase simply “partner” [cf. NEB, NRSV], while not totally inaccurate, do not reflect the nuance of correspondence and/or suitability.) The man’s form and nature are matched by the woman’s as she reflects him and complements him. Together they correspond. In short, this prepositional phrase indicates that she has everything that God had invested in him.

[21:16]  ⁵ sn A bowshot would be a distance of about a hundred yards (ninety meters).

[21:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “said.”

[21:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will not look on the death of the child.” The cohortative verbal form (note the negative particle אַל,’al) here expresses her resolve to avoid the stated action.

[21:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and she lifted up her voice and wept” (that is, she wept uncontrollably). The LXX reads “he” (referring to Ishmael) rather than “she” (referring to Hagar), but this is probably an attempt to harmonize this verse with the following one, which refers to the boy’s cries.

[2:20]  ⁷ tn Here for the first time the Hebrew word אָדָם (’adam) appears without the article, suggesting that it might now be the name “Adam” rather than “[the] man.” Translations of the Bible differ as to where they make the change from “man” to “Adam” (e.g., NASB and NIV translate “Adam” here, while NEB and NRSV continue to use “the man”; the KJV uses “Adam” twice in v. 19).

[2:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “there was not found a companion who corresponded to him.” The subject of the third masculine singular verb form is indefinite. Without a formally expressed subject the verb may be translated as passive: “one did not find = there was not found.”

[31:37]  ⁹ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

[31:37]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[31:37]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

[31:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “With whomever you find your gods, he will not live.”

[31:32]  ¹² tn Heb “brothers.”

[31:32]  ¹³ tn Heb “recognize for yourself what is with me and take for yourself.”

[31:32]  ¹⁴ 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.

[47:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “all Egypt.” The expression is a metonymy and refers to all the people of Egypt.

[47:15]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form has a deliberative force here.