Genesis 4:16

4:16 So Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and lived in the land of Nod, ¹  east of Eden.

Genesis 6:6

6:6 The Lord regretted ²  that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. ³ 

Genesis 10:8

10:8 Cush was the father of ⁴  Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth.

Genesis 10:10

10:10 The primary regions ⁵  of his kingdom were Babel, ⁶  Erech, ⁷  Akkad, ⁸  and Calneh ⁹  in the land of Shinar. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 10:32

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations, and from these the nations spread ¹¹  over the earth after the flood.

Genesis 11:2

11:2 When the people ¹²  moved eastward, ¹³  they found a plain in Shinar ¹⁴  and settled there.

Genesis 11:28

11:28 Haran died in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans, ¹⁵  while his father Terah was still alive. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 13:12

13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain ¹⁷  and pitched his tents next to Sodom.

Genesis 24:62

24:62 Now ¹⁸  Isaac came from ¹⁹  Beer Lahai Roi, ²⁰  for ²¹  he was living in the Negev. ²² 

Genesis 26:2

26:2 The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; ²³  settle down in the land that I will point out to you. ²⁴ 

Genesis 26:12

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ²⁵  because the Lord blessed him. ²⁶ 

Genesis 36:21

36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the descendants ²⁷  of Seir in the land of Edom.

Genesis 36:30-31

36:30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chief lists in the land of Seir.

36:31 These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king ruled over the Israelites: ²⁸ 

Genesis 41:52

41:52 He named the second child Ephraim, ²⁹  saying, ³⁰  “Certainly ³¹  God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Genesis 42:5

42:5 So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, ³²  for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 45:7

45:7 God sent me ³³  ahead of you to preserve you ³⁴  on the earth and to save your lives ³⁵  by a great deliverance.

[4:16]  ¹ sn The name Nod means “wandering” in Hebrew (see vv. 12, 14).

[6:6]  ² tn Or “was grieved”; “was sorry.” In the Niphal stem the verb נָחָם (nakham) can carry one of four semantic meanings, depending on the context: (1) “to experience emotional pain or weakness,” “to feel regret,” often concerning a past action (see Exod 13:17; Judg 21:6, 15; 1 Sam 15:11, 35; Job 42:6; Jer 31:19). In several of these texts כִּי (ki, “because”) introduces the cause of the emotional sorrow. (2) Another meaning is “to be comforted” or “to comfort oneself” (sometimes by taking vengeance). See Gen 24:67; 38:12; 2 Sam 13:39; Ps 77:3; Isa 1:24; Jer 31:15; Ezek 14:22; 31:16; 32:31. (This second category represents a polarization of category one.) (3) The meaning “to relent from” or “to repudiate” a course of action which is already underway is also possible (see Judg 2:18; 2 Sam 24:16 = 1 Chr 21:15; Pss 90:13; 106:45; Jer 8:6; 20:16; 42:10). (4) Finally, “to retract” (a statement) or “to relent or change one’s mind concerning,” “to deviate from” (a stated course of action) is possible (see Exod 32:12, 14; 1 Sam 15:29; Ps 110:4; Isa 57:6; Jer 4:28; 15:6; 18:8, 10; 26:3, 13, 19; Ezek 24:14; Joel 2:13-14; Am 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9-10; 4:2; Zech 8:14). See R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 388. The first category applies here because the context speaks of God’s grief and emotional pain (see the following statement in v. 6) as a result of a past action (his making humankind). For a thorough study of the word נָחָם, see H. Van Dyke Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[6:6]  ³ tn Heb “and he was grieved to his heart.” The verb עָצָב (’atsav) can carry one of three semantic senses, depending on the context: (1) “to be injured” (Ps 56:5; Eccl 10:9; 1 Chr 4:10); (2) “to experience emotional pain”; “to be depressed emotionally”; “to be worried” (2 Sam 19:2; Isa 54:6; Neh 8:10-11); (3) “to be embarrassed”; “to be offended” (to the point of anger at another or oneself); “to be insulted” (Gen 34:7; 45:5; 1 Sam 20:3, 34; 1 Kgs 1:6; Isa 63:10; Ps 78:40). This third category develops from the second by metonymy. In certain contexts emotional pain leads to embarrassment and/or anger. In this last use the subject sometimes directs his anger against the source of grief (see especially Gen 34:7). The third category fits best in Gen 6:6 because humankind’s sin does not merely wound God emotionally. On the contrary, it prompts him to strike out in judgment against the source of his distress (see v. 7). The verb וַיִּתְעַצֵּב (vayyit’atsev), a Hitpael from עָצָב, alludes to the judgment oracles in Gen 3:16-19. Because Adam and Eve sinned, their life would be filled with pain; but sin in the human race also brought pain to God. The wording of v. 6 is ironic when compared to Gen 5:29. Lamech anticipated relief (נָחָם, nakham) from their work (מַעֲשֶׂה, ma’aseh) and their painful toil (עִצְּבֹן, ’itsÿvon), but now we read that God was sorry (נָחָם, nakham) that he had made (עָשָׂה, ’asah) humankind for it brought him great pain (עָצָב, ’atsav).

[10:8]  ³ tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.

[10:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “beginning.” E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 67, suggests “mainstays,” citing Jer 49:35 as another text where the Hebrew noun is so used.

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Or “Babylon.”

[10:10]  ⁶ sn Erech (ancient Uruk, modern Warka), one of the most ancient civilizations, was located southeast of Babylon.

[10:10]  ⁷ sn Akkad, or ancient Agade, was associated with Sargon and located north of Babylon.

[10:10]  ⁸ tn No such place is known in Shinar (i.e., Babylonia). Therefore some have translated the Hebrew term כַלְנֵה (khalneh) as “all of them,” referring to the three previous names (cf. NRSV).

[10:10]  ⁹ sn Shinar is another name for Babylonia.

[10:32]  ⁵ tn Or “separated.”

[11:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:2]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “from the east” (NRSV) or “in the east.”

[11:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the land of Shinar.”

[11:28]  ⁷ sn The phrase of the Chaldeans is a later editorial clarification for the readers, designating the location of Ur. From all evidence there would have been no Chaldeans in existence at this early date; they are known in the time of the neo-Babylonian empire in the first millennium b.c.

[11:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “upon the face of Terah his father.”

[13:12]  ⁸ tn Or “the cities of the plain”; Heb “[the cities of] the circle,” referring to the “circle” or oval area of the Jordan Valley.

[24:62]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause switches the audience’s attention to Isaac and signals a new episode in the story.

[24:62]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “from the way of.”

[24:62]  ¹¹ sn The Hebrew name Beer Lahai Roi (בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי, bÿ’er lakhay ro’i) means “The well of the Living One who sees me.” See Gen 16:14.

[24:62]  ¹² tn This disjunctive clause is explanatory.

[24:62]  ¹³ tn Or “the South [country].”

[26:2]  ¹⁰ sn Do not go down to Egypt. The words echo Gen 12:10, which reports that “Abram went down to Egypt,” but state the opposite.

[26:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “say to you.”

[26:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a hundredfold.”

[26:12]  ¹² tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.

[36:21]  ¹² tn Or “sons.”

[36:31]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “before any Israelite king ruled over [them].”

[41:52]  ¹⁴ sn The name Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם, ’efrayim), a form of the Hebrew verb פָּרָה (parah), means “to bear fruit.” The theme of fruitfulness is connected with this line of the family from Rachel (30:2) on down (see Gen 49:22, Deut 33:13-17, and Hos 13:15). But there is some difficulty with the name “Ephraim” itself. It appears to be a dual, for which F. Delitzsch simply said it meant “double fruitfulness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:305). G. J. Spurrell suggested it was a diphthongal pronunciation of a name ending in -an or -am, often thought to be dual suffixes (Notes on the text of the book of Genesis, 334). Many, however, simply connect the name to the territory of Ephraim and interpret it to be “fertile land” (C. Fontinoy, “Les noms de lieux en -ayim dans la Bible,” UF 3 [1971]: 33-40). The dual would then be an old locative ending. There is no doubt that the name became attached to the land in which the tribe settled, and it is possible that is where the dual ending came from, but in this story it refers to Joseph’s God-given fruitfulness.

[41:52]  ¹⁵ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:52]  ¹⁶ tn Or “for.”

[42:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the midst of the coming ones.”

[45:7]  ¹⁶ sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

[45:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.