Genesis 35:9

35:9 God appeared to Jacob again after he returned from Paddan Aram and blessed him.

Genesis 35:16-19

35:16 They traveled on from Bethel, and when Ephrath was still some distance away, ¹  Rachel went into labor ²  – and her labor was hard. 35:17 When her labor was at its hardest, ³  the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for you are having another son.” ⁴  35:18 With her dying breath, ⁵  she named him Ben-Oni. ⁶  But his father called him Benjamin instead. ⁷  35:19 So Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). ⁸ 

Genesis 35:1

The Return to Bethel

35:1 Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once ⁹  to Bethel ¹⁰  and live there. Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 10:2

10:2 The sons of Japheth ¹²  were Gomer, ¹³  Magog, ¹⁴  Madai, ¹⁵  Javan, ¹⁶  Tubal, ¹⁷  Meshech, ¹⁸  and Tiras. ¹⁹ 

Matthew 2:18

2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and loud wailing, ²⁰ 

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she did not want to be comforted, because they were ²¹  gone.” ²² 

[35:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and there was still a stretch of the land to go to Ephrath.”

[35:16]  ² tn Normally the verb would be translated “she gave birth,” but because that obviously had not happened yet, it is better to translate the verb as ingressive, “began to give birth” (cf. NIV) or “went into labor.”

[35:17]  ³ tn The construction uses a Hiphil infinitive, which E. A. Speiser classifies as an elative Hiphil. The contrast is with the previous Piel: there “she had hard labor,” and here, “her labor was at its hardest.” Failure to see this, Speiser notes, has led to redundant translations and misunderstandings (Genesis [AB], 273).

[35:17]  ⁴ sn Another son. The episode recalls and fulfills the prayer of Rachel at the birth of Joseph (Gen 30:24): “may he add” another son.

[35:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the going out of her life, for she was dying.” Rachel named the child with her dying breath.

[35:18]  ⁶ sn The name Ben-Oni means “son of my suffering.” It is ironic that Rachel’s words to Jacob in Gen 30:1, “Give me children or I’ll die,” take a different turn here, for it was having the child that brought about her death.

[35:18]  ⁷ tn The disjunctive clause is contrastive.

[35:19]  ⁸ sn This explanatory note links the earlier name Ephrath with the later name Bethlehem.

[35:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

[35:1]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[35:1]  ¹¹ sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).

[10:2]  ¹² sn The Greek form of the name Japheth, Iapetos, is used in Greek tradition for the ancestor of the Greeks.

[10:2]  ¹³ sn Gomer was the ancestor of the Cimmerians. For a discussion of the Cimmerians see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 49-61.

[10:2]  ¹⁴ sn For a discussion of various proposals concerning the descendants of Magog see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 22-24.

[10:2]  ¹⁵ sn Madai was the ancestor of the Medes, who lived east of Assyria.

[10:2]  ¹⁶ sn Javan was the father of the Hellenic race, the Ionians who lived in western Asia Minor.

[10:2]  ¹⁷ sn Tubal was the ancestor of militaristic tribes that lived north of the Black Sea. For a discussion of ancient references to Tubal see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹⁸ sn Meshech was the ancestor of the people known in Assyrian records as the Musku. For a discussion of ancient references to them see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 24-26.

[10:2]  ¹⁹ sn Tiras was the ancestor of the Thracians, some of whom possibly became the Pelasgian pirates of the Aegean.

[2:18]  ²⁰ tc The LXX of Jer 38:15 (31:15 ET) has “lamentation, weeping, and loud wailing”; most later mss (C D L W 0233 ˹³ 33 Ï) have a quotation in Matthew which conforms to that of the LXX (θρῆνος καὶ κλαυθμός καὶ ὀδυρμός; qrhno" kai klauqmo" kai odurmo"). But such assimilations were routine among the scribes; as such, they typically should be discounted because they are both predictable and motivated. The shorter reading, without “lamentation and,” is thus to be preferred, especially since it cannot easily be accounted for unless it is the original wording here. Further, it is found in the better mss along with a good cross-section of other witnesses (א B Z 0250 ˹ pc lat co).

[2:18]  ²¹ tn Grk “are”; the Greek text uses a present tense verb.

[2:18]  ²² sn A quotation from Jer 31:15.