Genesis 42:37

42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may ¹  put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care ²  and I will bring him back to you.”

Genesis 44:32-33

44:32 Indeed, ³  your servant pledged security for the boy with my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame before my father all my life.’

44:33 “So now, please let your servant remain as my lord’s slave instead of the boy. As for the boy, let him go back with his brothers.

Genesis 44:1

The Final Test

44:1 He instructed the servant who was over his household, “Fill the sacks of the men with as much food as they can carry and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

Genesis 1:21

1:21 God created the great sea creatures ⁴  and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

Job 17:3

17:3 Make then my pledge ⁵  with you.

Who else will put up security for me? ⁶ 

Psalms 119:122

119:122 Guarantee the welfare of your servant! ⁷ 

Do not let the arrogant oppress me!

Philemon 1:18-19

1:18 Now if he has defrauded you of anything or owes you anything, charge what he owes ⁸  to me. 1:19 I, Paul, have written ⁹  this letter ¹⁰  with my own hand: ¹¹  I will repay it. I could also mention that you owe ¹²  me your very self.

Hebrews 7:22

7:22 accordingly Jesus has become the guarantee ¹³  of a better covenant.

[42:37]  ¹ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.

[42:37]  ² tn Heb “my hand.”

[44:32]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[1:21]  ⁴ tn For the first time in the narrative proper the verb “create” (בָּרָא, bara’) appears. (It is used in the summary statement of v. 1.) The author wishes to underscore that these creatures – even the great ones – are part of God’s perfect creation. The Hebrew term תַנִּינִם (tanninim) is used for snakes (Exod 7:9), crocodiles (Ezek 29:3), or other powerful animals (Jer 51:34). In Isa 27:1 the word is used to describe a mythological sea creature that symbolizes God’s enemies.

[17:3]  ⁵ tn The MT has two imperatives: “Lay down, pledge me, with me.” Most commentators think that the second imperative should be a noun, and take it to say, “Lay my pledge with/beside you.” A. B. Davidson (Job, 126) suggests that the first verb means “give a pledge,” and so the two similar verbs would be emphatic: “Give a pledge, be my surety.” Other than such a change (which would involve changing the vowels) one would have to interpret similarly by seeing the imperatives as a kind of hendiadys, with the main emphasis being on the second imperative, “make a pledge.”

[17:3]  ⁶ sn The idiom is “to strike the hand.” Here the wording is a little different, “Who is he that will strike himself into my hand?”

[119:122]  ⁷ tn Heb “be surety for your servant for good.”

[1:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “charge it to me.”

[1:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “I wrote” Here ἔγραψα (egraya) is functioning as an epistolary aorist. Paul puts it in the past tense because from Philemon’s perspective when he reads the letter it will, of course, already have been written.

[1:19]  ¹⁰ tn The phrase “this letter” does not appear in the Greek text, but is supplied in the English translation to clarify the meaning.

[1:19]  ¹¹ sn With my own hand. Paul may have considered this letter so delicate that he wrote the letter himself as opposed to using an amanuensis or secretary.

[1:19]  ¹² sn The statement you owe me your very self means that Paul was responsible for some sort of blessing in the life of Philemon; though a monetary idea may be in mind, it is perhaps better to understand Paul as referring to the spiritual truth (i.e., the gospel) he had taught Philemon.

[7:22]  ¹³ tn Or “surety.”