Genesis 49:21

49:21 Naphtali is a free running doe, ¹ 

he speaks delightful words. ² 

Genesis 38:25

38:25 While they were bringing her out, she sent word ³  to her father-in-law: “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” ⁴  Then she said, “Identify ⁵  the one to whom the seal, cord, and staff belong.”

Genesis 43:8

43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. ⁶  Then we will live ⁷  and not die – we and you and our little ones.

[49:21]  ¹ tn Heb “a doe set free.”

[49:21]  ² tn Heb “the one who gives words of beauty.” The deer imagery probably does not continue into this line; Naphtali is the likely antecedent of the substantival participle, which is masculine, not feminine, in form. If the animal imagery is retained from the preceding line, the image of a talking deer is preposterous. For this reason some read the second line “the one who bears beautiful fawns,” interpreting אִמְרֵי (’imre) as a reference to young animals, not words (see HALOT 67 s.v. *אִמֵּר).

[38:25]  ³ tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.

[38:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “who these to him.”

[38:25]  ⁵ tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”

[43:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”

[43:8]  ⁶ tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.