Genesis 4:9

4:9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” ¹  And he replied, “I don’t know! Am I my brother’s guardian?” ² 

Genesis 15:5

15:5 The Lord ³  took him outside and said, “Gaze into the sky and count the stars – if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him, “So will your descendants be.”

Genesis 18:29-32

18:29 Abraham ⁴  spoke to him again, ⁵  “What if forty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

18:30 Then Abraham ⁶  said, “May the Lord not be angry ⁷  so that I may speak! ⁸  What if thirty are found there?” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

18:31 Abraham ⁹  said, “Since I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, what if only twenty are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

18:32 Finally Abraham ¹⁰  said, “May the Lord not be angry so that I may speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

Genesis 22:1

The Sacrifice of Isaac

22:1 Some time after these things God tested ¹¹  Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham ¹²  replied.

Genesis 27:1

Jacob Cheats Esau out of the Blessing

27:1 When ¹³  Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he was almost blind, ¹⁴  he called his older ¹⁵  son Esau and said to him, “My son!” “Here I am!” Esau ¹⁶  replied.

Genesis 27:20

27:20 But Isaac asked his son, “How in the world ¹⁷  did you find it so quickly, ¹⁸  my son?” “Because the Lord your God brought it to me,” ¹⁹  he replied. ²⁰ 

Genesis 32:29

32:29 Then Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” ²¹  “Why ²²  do you ask my name?” the man replied. ²³  Then he blessed ²⁴  Jacob ²⁵  there.

Genesis 33:8

33:8 Esau ²⁶  then asked, “What did you intend ²⁷  by sending all these herds to meet me?” ²⁸  Jacob ²⁹  replied, “To find favor in your sight, my lord.”

Genesis 33:15

33:15 So Esau said, “Let me leave some of my men with you.” ³⁰  “Why do that?” Jacob replied. ³¹  “My lord has already been kind enough to me.” ³² 

Genesis 37:13

37:13 Israel said to Joseph, “Your brothers ³³  are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I will send you to them.” “I’m ready,” ³⁴  Joseph replied. ³⁵ 

Genesis 45:4

45:4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” so they came near. Then he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

Genesis 48:9

48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the ³⁶  sons God has given me in this place.” His father ³⁷  said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” ³⁸ 

[4:9]  ¹ sn Where is Abel your brother? Again the Lord confronts a guilty sinner with a rhetorical question (see Gen 3:9-13), asking for an explanation of what has happened.

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “The one guarding my brother [am] I?”

[15:5]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:29]  ⁶ tn The construction is a verbal hendiadys – the preterite (“he added”) is combined with an adverb “yet” and an infinitive “to speak.”

[18:30]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “let it not be hot to the Lord.” This is an idiom which means “may the Lord not be angry.”

[18:30]  ⁹ tn After the jussive, the cohortative indicates purpose/result.

[18:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[22:1]  ¹³ sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.

[22:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:1]  ¹⁵ tn The clause begins with the temporal indicator (“and it happened”), making it subordinate to the main clause that follows later in the sentence.

[27:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and his eyes were weak from seeing.”

[27:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “greater” (in terms of age).

[27:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Esau) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[27:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “What is this?” The enclitic pronoun “this” adds emphasis to the question, which is comparable to the English rhetorical question, “How in the world?”

[27:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you hastened to find.” In translation the infinitive becomes the main verb and the first verb becomes adverbial.

[27:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “caused to meet before me.”

[27:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Because the Lord your God….’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ¹⁹ sn Tell me your name. In primitive thought to know the name of a deity or supernatural being would enable one to use it for magical manipulation or power (A. S. Herbert, Genesis 12-50 [TBC], 108). For a thorough structural analysis of the passage discussing the plays on the names and the request of Jacob, see R. Barthes, “The Struggle with the Angel: Textual Analysis of Genesis 32:23-33,” Structural Analysis and Biblical Exegesis (PTMS), 21-33.

[32:29]  ²⁰ tn The question uses the enclitic pronoun “this” to emphasize the import of the question.

[32:29]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (the man who wrestled with Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:29]  ²² tn The verb here means that the Lord endowed Jacob with success; he would be successful in everything he did, including meeting Esau.

[32:29]  ²³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:8]  ²² tn Heb “Who to you?”

[33:8]  ²³ tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”

[33:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:15]  ²³ tn The cohortative verbal form here indicates a polite offer of help.

[33:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Why this?’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[33:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I am finding favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[37:13]  ²⁵ tn The text uses an interrogative clause: “Are not your brothers,” which means “your brothers are.”

[37:13]  ²⁶ sn With these words Joseph is depicted here as an obedient son who is ready to do what his father commands.

[37:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Here I am.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.

[48:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “my.”

[48:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:9]  ²⁹ tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.