Genesis 49:14

49:14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey

lying down between two saddlebags.

Genesis 1:4

1:4 God saw ¹  that the light was good, ²  so God separated ³  the light from the darkness.

Genesis 1:6

1:6 God said, “Let there be an expanse ⁴  in the midst of the waters and let it separate water ⁵  from water.

Genesis 1:18

1:18 to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. ⁶  God saw that it was good.

Genesis 10:12

10:12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and the great city Calah. ⁷ 

Genesis 16:14

16:14 That is why the well was called ⁸  Beer Lahai Roi. ⁹  (It is located ¹⁰  between Kadesh and Bered.)

Genesis 20:1

Abraham and Abimelech

20:1 Abraham journeyed from there to the Negev ¹¹  region and settled between Kadesh and Shur. While he lived as a temporary resident ¹²  in Gerar,

Genesis 1:7

1:7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. ¹³  It was so. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 1:14

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ¹⁵  in the expanse ¹⁶  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ¹⁷  to indicate seasons and days and years,

Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ¹⁸  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Genesis 13:3

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ¹⁹  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ²⁰  He returned ²¹  to the place where he had pitched his tent ²²  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

Genesis 13:7

13:7 So there were quarrels ²³  between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen. ²⁴  (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.) ²⁵ 

Genesis 15:17

15:17 When the sun had gone down and it was dark, a smoking firepot with a flaming torch ²⁶  passed between the animal parts. ²⁷ 

Genesis 31:37

31:37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you? ²⁸  Set it here before my relatives and yours, ²⁹  and let them settle the dispute between the two of us! ³⁰ 

Genesis 32:16

32:16 He entrusted them to ³¹  his servants, who divided them into herds. ³²  He told his servants, “Pass over before me, and keep some distance between one herd and the next.”

[1:4]  ¹ tn Heb “And God saw the light, that it was good.” The verb “saw” in this passage carries the meaning “reflected on,” “surveyed,” “concluded,” “noted.” It is a description of reflection of the mind – it is God’s opinion.

[1:4]  ² tn The Hebrew word טוֹב (tov) in this context signifies whatever enhances, promotes, produces, or is conducive for life. It is the light that God considers “good,” not the darkness. Whatever is conducive to life in God’s creation is good, for God himself is good, and that goodness is reflected in all of his works.

[1:4]  ³ tn The verb “separate, divide” here explains how God used the light to dispel the darkness. It did not do away with the darkness completely, but made a separation. The light came alongside the darkness, but they are mutually exclusive – a theme that will be developed in the Gospel of John (cf. John 1:5).

[1:6]  ¹ tn The Hebrew word refers to an expanse of air pressure between the surface of the sea and the clouds, separating water below from water above. In v. 8 it is called “sky.”

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “the waters from the waters.”

[1:18]  ¹ sn In days one to three there is a naming by God; in days five and six there is a blessing by God. But on day four there is neither. It could be a mere stylistic variation. But it could also be a deliberate design to avoid naming “sun” and “moon” or promoting them beyond what they are, things that God made to serve in his creation.

[10:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; it [i.e., Calah] is the great city.”

[16:14]  ¹ tn The verb does not have an expressed subject and so is rendered as passive in the translation.

[16:14]  ² 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.” The text suggests that God takes up the cause of those who are oppressed.

[16:14]  ³ tn Heb “look.” The words “it is located” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[20:1]  ¹ tn Or “the South [country]”; Heb “the land of the Negev.”

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “and he sojourned.”

[1:7]  ¹ tn Heb “the expanse.”

[1:7]  ² tn This statement indicates that it happened the way God designed it, underscoring the connection between word and event.

[1:14]  ¹ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ² tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ³ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”

[9:16]  ¹ tn The translation assumes that the infinitive לִזְכֹּר (lizkor, “to remember”) here expresses the result of seeing the rainbow. Another option is to understand it as indicating purpose, in which case it could be translated, “I will look at it so that I may remember.”

[13:3]  ¹ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

[13:3]  ² map For location see Map4 G4; Map5 C1; Map6 E3; Map7 D1; Map8 G3.

[13:3]  ³ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

[13:7]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term רִיב (riv) means “strife, conflict, quarreling.” In later texts it has the meaning of “legal controversy, dispute.” See B. Gemser, “The rîb – or Controversy – Pattern in Hebrew Mentality,” Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East [VTSup], 120-37.

[13:7]  ² sn Since the quarreling was between the herdsmen, the dispute was no doubt over water and vegetation for the animals.

[13:7]  ³ tn This parenthetical clause, introduced with the vav (ו) disjunctive (translated “now”), again provides critical information. It tells in part why the land cannot sustain these two bedouins, and it also hints of the danger of weakening the family by inner strife.

[15:17]  ¹ sn A smoking pot with a flaming torch. These same implements were used in Mesopotamian rituals designed to ward off evil (see E. A. Speiser, Genesis [AB], 113-14).

[15:17]  ² tn Heb “these pieces.”

[31:37]  ¹ tn Heb “what did you find from all the goods of your house?”

[31:37]  ² tn Heb “your relatives.” The word “relatives” has not been repeated in the translation here for stylistic reasons.

[31:37]  ³ tn Heb “that they may decide between us two.”

[32:16]  ¹ tn Heb “and he put them in the hand of.”

[32:16]  ² tn Heb “a herd, a herd, by itself,” or “each herd by itself.” The distributive sense is expressed by repetition.