Genesis 44:20

44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young boy who was born when our father was old. ¹  The boy’s ²  brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, ³  and his father loves him.’

Genesis 20:5

20:5 Did Abraham ⁴  not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ⁵  ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with a clear conscience ⁶  and with innocent hands!”

Genesis 20:13

20:13 When God made me wander ⁷  from my father’s house, I told her, ‘This is what you can do to show your loyalty to me: ⁸  Every place we go, say about me, “He is my brother.”’”

Genesis 20:16

20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given a thousand pieces of silver ⁹  to your ‘brother.’ ¹⁰  This is compensation for you so that you will stand vindicated before all who are with you.” ¹¹ 

Genesis 27:42

27:42 When Rebekah heard what her older son Esau had said, ¹²  she quickly summoned ¹³  her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is planning to get revenge by killing you. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 32:17

32:17 He instructed the servant leading the first herd, ¹⁵  “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? ¹⁶  Where are you going? Whose herds are you driving?’ ¹⁷ 

Genesis 38:29

38:29 But then he drew back his hand, and his brother came out before him. ¹⁸  She said, “How you have broken out of the womb!” ¹⁹  So he was named Perez. ²⁰ 

Genesis 42:21

42:21 They said to one other, ²¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ²³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ²⁴  has come on us!”

Genesis 43:14

43:14 May the sovereign God ²⁵  grant you mercy before the man so that he may release ²⁶  your other brother ²⁷  and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” ²⁸ 

[44:20]  ¹ tn Heb “and a small boy of old age,” meaning that he was born when his father was elderly.

[44:20]  ² tn Heb “his”; the referent (the boy just mentioned) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[44:20]  ³ tn Heb “he, only he, to his mother is left.”

[20:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[20:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and she, even she.”

[20:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “with the integrity of my heart.”

[20:13]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”

[20:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”

[20:16]  ¹⁰ sn A thousand pieces [Heb “shekels”] of silver. The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of silver here 11.5 kilograms, or 400 ounces (about 25 pounds).

[20:16]  ¹¹ sn To your ‘brother.’ Note the way that the king refers to Abraham. Was he being sarcastic? It was surely a rebuke to Sarah. What is amazing is how patient this king was. It is proof that the fear of God was in that place, contrary to what Abraham believed (see v. 11).

[20:16]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, it is for you a covering of the eyes, for all who are with you, and with all, and you are set right.” The exact meaning of the statement is unclear. Apparently it means that the gift of money somehow exonerates her in other people’s eyes. They will not look on her as compromised (see G. J. Wenham, Genesis [WBC], 2:74).

[27:42]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah.”

[27:42]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she sent and called for.”

[27:42]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “is consoling himself with respect to you to kill you.” The only way Esau had of dealing with his anger at the moment was to plan to kill his brother after the death of Isaac.

[32:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the first”; this has been specified as “the servant leading the first herd” in the translation for clarity.

[32:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to whom are you?”

[32:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and to whom are these before you?”

[38:29]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look, his brother came out.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to view the scene through the midwife’s eyes. The words “before him” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[38:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “How you have made a breach for yourself!” The Hebrew verb translated “make a breach” frequently occurs, as here, with a cognate accusative. The event provided the meaningful name Perez, “he who breaks through.”

[38:29]  ²¹ sn The name Perez means “he who breaks through,” referring to Perez reaching out his hand at birth before his brother was born. The naming signified the completion of Tamar’s struggle and also depicted the destiny of the tribe of Perez who later became dominant (Gen 46:12 and Num 26:20). Judah and his brothers had sold Joseph into slavery, thinking they could thwart God’s plan that the elder brothers should serve the younger. God demonstrated that principle through these births in Judah’s own family, affirming that the elder will serve the younger, and that Joseph’s leadership could not so easily be set aside. See J. Goldin, “The Youngest Son; or, Where Does Genesis 38 Belong?” JBL 96 (1977): 27-44.

[42:21]  ²² tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ²³ tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ²⁵ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[43:14]  ²⁵ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[43:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “release to you.” After the jussive this perfect verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) probably indicates logical consequence, as well as temporal sequence.

[43:14]  ²⁷ sn Several Jewish commentators suggest that the expression your other brother refers to Joseph. This would mean that Jacob prophesied unwittingly. However, it is much more likely that Simeon is the referent of the phrase “your other brother” (see Gen 42:24).

[43:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “if I am bereaved I am bereaved.” With this fatalistic sounding statement Jacob resolves himself to the possibility of losing both Benjamin and Simeon.