Genesis 37:21

37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph ¹  from their hands, ²  saying, ³  “Let’s not take his life!” ⁴ 

Genesis 28:7

28:7 Jacob obeyed his father and mother and left for Paddan Aram.

Genesis 30:17

30:17 God paid attention ⁵  to Leah; she became pregnant ⁶  and gave Jacob a son for the fifth time. ⁷ 

Genesis 30:22

30:22 Then God took note of ⁸  Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. ⁹ 

Genesis 45:2

45:2 He wept loudly; ¹⁰  the Egyptians heard it and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. ¹¹ 

Genesis 14:14

14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew ¹²  had been taken captive, he mobilized ¹³  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders ¹⁴  as far as Dan. ¹⁵ 

Genesis 16:2

16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹⁶  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ¹⁷  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ¹⁸  Abram did what ¹⁹  Sarai told him.

Genesis 21:17

21:17 But God heard the boy’s voice. ²⁰  The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter, ²¹  Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard ²²  the boy’s voice right where he is crying.

Genesis 23:16

23:16 So Abraham agreed to Ephron’s price ²³  and weighed ²⁴  out for him ²⁵  the price ²⁶  that Ephron had quoted ²⁷  in the hearing of the sons of Heth – 400 pieces of silver, according to the standard measurement at the time. ²⁸ 

Genesis 31:1

Jacob’s Flight from Laban

31:1 Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ²⁹  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ³⁰  at our father’s expense!” ³¹ 

Genesis 35:22

35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben had sexual relations with ³²  Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard about it.

Jacob had twelve sons:

[37:21]  ¹ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:21]  ² sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).

[37:21]  ³ tn Heb “and he said.”

[37:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”

[30:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened to.”

[30:17]  ⁶ tn Or “she conceived” (also in v. 19).

[30:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a fifth son,” i.e., this was the fifth son that Leah had given Jacob.

[30:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “remembered.”

[30:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons

[45:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he gave his voice in weeping,” meaning that Joseph could not restrain himself and wept out loud.

[45:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the Egyptians heard and the household of Pharaoh heard.” Presumably in the latter case this was by means of a report.

[14:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his brother,” by extension, “relative.” Here and in v. 16 the more specific term “nephew” has been used in the translation for clarity. Lot was the son of Haran, Abram’s brother (Gen 11:27).

[14:14]  ¹⁸ tn The verb וַיָּרֶק (vayyareq) is a rare form, probably related to the word רֵיק (req, “to be empty”). If so, it would be a very figurative use: “he emptied out” (or perhaps “unsheathed”) his men. The LXX has “mustered” (cf. NEB). E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103-4) suggests reading with the Samaritan Pentateuch a verb diq, cognate with Akkadian deku, “to mobilize” troops. If this view is accepted, one must assume that a confusion of the Hebrew letters ד (dalet) and ר (resh) led to the error in the traditional Hebrew text. These two letters are easily confused in all phases of ancient Hebrew script development. The present translation is based on this view.

[14:14]  ¹⁹ tn The words “the invaders” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:14]  ²⁰ sn The use of the name Dan reflects a later perspective. The Danites did not migrate to this northern territory until centuries later (see Judg 18:29). Furthermore Dan was not even born until much later. By inserting this name a scribe has clarified the location of the region.

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ²² tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).

[16:2]  ²³ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”

[21:17]  ²⁵ sn God heard the boy’s voice. The text has not to this point indicated that Ishmael was crying out, either in pain or in prayer. But the text here makes it clear that God heard him. Ishmael is clearly central to the story. Both the mother and the Lord are focused on the child’s imminent death.

[21:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “What to you?”

[21:17]  ²⁷ sn Here the verb heard picks up the main motif of the name Ishmael (“God hears”), introduced back in chap. 16.

[23:16]  ²⁹ tn Heb “listened to Ephron.”

[23:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and Abraham weighed out.”

[23:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “to Ephron.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ³² tn Heb “silver.”

[23:16]  ³³ tn Heb “that he had spoken.” The referent (Ephron) has been specified here in the translation for clarity and for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “passing for the merchant.” The final clause affirms that the measurement of silver was according to the standards used by the merchants of the time.

[31:1]  ³³ tn Heb “and he heard the words of the sons of Laban, saying.”

[31:1]  ³⁴ sn The Hebrew word translated “gotten rich” (כָּבוֹד, cavod) has the basic idea of “weight.” If one is heavy with possessions, then that one is wealthy (13:2). Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph all became wealthy when they left the promised land. Jacob’s wealth foreshadows what will happen to Israel when they leave the land of Egypt (Exod 12:35-38).

[31:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and from that which belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”

[35:22]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and Reuben went and lay with.” The expression “lay with” is a euphemism for having sexual intercourse.