Genesis 4:25

4:25 And Adam had marital relations ¹  with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son. She named him Seth, saying, “God has given ²  me another child ³  in place of Abel because Cain killed him.”

Genesis 6:4

6:4 The Nephilim ⁴  were on the earth in those days (and also after this) ⁵  when the sons of God were having sexual relations with ⁶  the daughters of humankind, who gave birth to their children. ⁷  They were the mighty heroes ⁸  of old, the famous men. ⁹ 

Genesis 16:2

16:2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ¹⁰  the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ¹¹  my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ¹²  Abram did what ¹³  Sarai told him.

Genesis 17:19

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ¹⁴  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ¹⁵  covenant for his descendants after him.

Genesis 24:15

24:15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah ¹⁶  with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor). ¹⁷ 

Genesis 24:47

24:47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’ ¹⁸  I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.

Genesis 29:33

29:33 She became pregnant again and had another son. She said, “Because the Lord heard that I was unloved, ¹⁹  he gave me this one too.” So she named him Simeon. ²⁰ 

Genesis 30:1

30:1 When Rachel saw that she could not give Jacob children, she ²¹  became jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, “Give me children ²²  or I’ll die!”

Genesis 30:20

30:20 Then Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me because I have given him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun. ²³ 

Genesis 31:43

31:43 Laban replied ²⁴  to Jacob, “These women ²⁵  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ²⁶  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ²⁷  or the children to whom they have given birth?

Genesis 40:20

40:20 On the third day it was Pharaoh’s birthday, so he gave a feast for all his servants. He “lifted up” ²⁸  the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker in the midst of his servants.

Genesis 48:5

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. ²⁹  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

[4:25]  ¹ tn Heb “knew,” a frequent euphemism for sexual relations.

[4:25]  ² sn The name Seth probably means something like “placed”; “appointed”; “set”; “granted,” assuming it is actually related to the verb that is used in the sentiment. At any rate, the name שֵׁת (shet) and the verb שָׁת (shat, “to place, to appoint, to set, to grant”) form a wordplay (paronomasia).

[4:25]  ³ tn Heb “offspring.”

[6:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew word נְפִילִים (nÿfilim) is simply transliterated here, because the meaning of the term is uncertain. According to the text, the Nephilim became mighty warriors and gained great fame in the antediluvian world. The text may imply they were the offspring of the sexual union of the “sons of God” and the “daughters of humankind” (v. 2), but it stops short of saying this in a direct manner. The Nephilim are mentioned in the OT only here and in Num 13:33, where it is stated that they were giants (thus KJV, TEV, NLT “giants” here). The narrator observes that the Anakites of Canaan were descendants of the Nephilim. Certainly these later Anakite Nephilim could not be descendants of the antediluvian Nephilim (see also the following note on the word “this”).

[6:4]  ⁵ tn This observation is parenthetical, explaining that there were Nephilim even after the flood. If all humankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, died in the flood, it is difficult to understand how the postdiluvian Nephilim could be related to the antediluvian Nephilim or how the Anakites of Canaan could be their descendants (see Num 13:33). It is likely that the term Nephilim refers generally to “giants” (see HALOT 709 s.v. נְפִילִים) without implying any ethnic connection between the antediluvian and postdiluvian varieties.

[6:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “were entering to,” referring euphemistically to sexual intercourse here. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the ongoing nature of such sexual unions during the time before the flood.

[6:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they gave birth to them.” The masculine plural suffix “them” refers to the “sons of God,” to whom the “daughters of humankind” bore children. After the Qal form of the verb יָלָד (yalad, “to give birth”) the preposition לְ (lÿ, “to”) introduces the father of the child(ren). See Gen 16:1, 15; 17:19, 21; 21:2-3, 9; 22:23; 24:24, 47; 25:2, etc.

[6:4]  ⁸ tn The parenthetical/explanatory clause uses the word הַגִּבֹּרִים (haggibborim) to describe these Nephilim. The word means “warriors; mighty men; heroes.” The appositional statement further explains that they were “men of renown.” The text refers to superhuman beings who held the world in their power and who lived on in ancient lore outside the Bible. See E. A. Speiser, Genesis (AB), 45-46; C. Westermann, Genesis, 1:379-80; and Anne D. Kilmer, “The Mesopotamian Counterparts of the Biblical Nephilim,” Perspectives on Language and Text, 39-43.

[6:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “men of name” (i.e., famous men).

[16:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “enter to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual relations (also in v. 4).

[16:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.

[16:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”

[17:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

[17:19]  ¹¹ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[24:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out!” Using the participle introduced with הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator dramatically transports the audience back into the event and invites them to see Rebekah through the servant’s eyes.

[24:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Look, Rebekah was coming out – [she] who was born to Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, the brother of Abraham – and her jug [was] on her shoulder.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:47]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “whom Milcah bore to him.” The referent (Nahor) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[29:33]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “hated.” See the note on the word “unloved” in v. 31.

[29:33]  ²⁰ sn The name Simeon (שִׁמְעוֹן, shim’on) is derived from the verbal root שָׁמַע (shama’) and means “hearing.” The name is appropriate since it is reminder that the Lord “heard” about Leah’s unloved condition and responded with pity.

[30:1]  ²² tn Heb “Rachel.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“she”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[30:1]  ²³ tn Heb “sons.”

[30:20]  ²⁵ sn The name Zebulun (זְבֻלוּן, zevulun) apparently means “honor.” The name plays on the verb used in the statement made earlier in the verse. The Hebrew verb translated “will honor” and the name Zebulun derive from the same root.

[31:43]  ²⁸ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[31:43]  ²⁹ tn Heb “daughters.”

[31:43]  ³⁰ tn Heb “children.”

[31:43]  ³¹ tn Heb “but to my daughters what can I do to these today?”

[40:20]  ³¹ tn The translation puts the verb in quotation marks because it is used rhetorically here and has a double meaning. With respect to the cup bearer it means “reinstate” (see v. 13), but with respect to the baker it means “decapitate” (see v. 19).

[48:5]  ³⁴ sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.