Genesis 49:22

49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, ¹ 

a fruitful bough near a spring

whose branches ²  climb over the wall.

Genesis 30:28

30:28 He added, “Just name your wages – I’ll pay whatever you want.” ³ 

Genesis 49:17

49:17 May Dan be a snake beside the road,

a viper by the path,

that bites the heels of the horse

so that its rider falls backward. ⁴ 

Genesis 27:12-13

27:12 My father may touch me! Then he’ll think I’m mocking him ⁵  and I’ll bring a curse on myself instead of a blessing.” 27:13 So his mother told him, “Any curse against you will fall on me, ⁶  my son! Just obey me! ⁷  Go and get them for me!”

Genesis 33:13

33:13 But Jacob ⁸  said to him, “My lord knows that the children are young, ⁹  and that I have to look after the sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. ¹⁰  If they are driven too hard for even a single day, all the animals will die.

Genesis 34:12

34:12 You can make the bride price and the gift I must bring very expensive, ¹¹  and I’ll give ¹²  whatever you ask ¹³  of me. Just give me the young woman as my wife!”

Genesis 42:36

42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. ¹⁴  Simeon is gone. ¹⁵  And now you want to take ¹⁶  Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ¹⁷  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 20:9

20:9 Abimelech summoned Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? What sin did I commit against you that would cause you to bring such great guilt on me and my kingdom? ¹⁹  You have done things to me that should not be done!” ²⁰ 

Genesis 34:30

34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin ²¹  on me by making me a foul odor ²²  among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I ²³  am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”

Genesis 48:7

48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow ²⁴  – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ²⁵ 

[49:22]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text appears to mean “[is] a son of fruitfulness.” The second word is an active participle, feminine singular, from the verb פָּרָה (parah, “to be fruitful”). The translation “bough” is employed for בֵּן (ben, elsewhere typically “son”) because Joseph is pictured as a healthy and fruitful vine growing by the wall. But there are difficulties with this interpretation. The word “son” nowhere else refers to a plant and the noun translated “branches” (Heb “daughters”) in the third line is a plural form whereas its verb is singular. In the other oracles of Gen 49 an animal is used for comparison and not a plant, leading some to translate the opening phrase בֵּן פָּרָה (ben parah, “fruitful bough”) as “wild donkey” (JPS, NAB). Various other interpretations involving more radical emendation of the text have also been offered.

[49:22]  ² tn Heb “daughters.”

[30:28]  ³ tn Heb “set your wage for me so I may give [it].”

[49:17]  ⁵ sn The comparison of the tribe of Dan to a venomous serpent is meant to say that Dan, though small, would be potent, gaining victory through its skill and shrewdness. Jewish commentators have linked the image in part with Samson. That link at least illustrates the point: Though a minority tribe, Dan would gain the upper hand over others.

[27:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “Perhaps my father will feel me and I will be in his eyes like a mocker.” The Hebrew expression “I will be in his eyes like” means “I would appear to him as.”

[27:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “upon me your curse.”

[27:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “only listen to my voice.”

[33:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:13]  ¹² tn Heb “weak.”

[33:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the sheep and the cattle nursing [are] upon me.”

[34:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Make very great upon me the bride price and gift.” The imperatives are used in a rhetorical manner. Shechem’s point is that he will pay the price, no matter how expensive it might be.

[34:12]  ¹⁴ tn The cohortative expresses Shechem’s resolve to have Dinah as his wife.

[34:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “say.”

[42:36]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ¹⁷ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.

[50:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[20:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “How did I sin against you that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin?” The expression “great sin” refers to adultery. For discussion of the cultural background of the passage, see J. J. Rabinowitz, “The Great Sin in Ancient Egyptian Marriage Contracts,” JNES 18 (1959): 73, and W. L. Moran, “The Scandal of the ‘Great Sin’ at Ugarit,” JNES 18 (1959): 280-81.

[20:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Deeds which should not be done you have done to me.” The imperfect has an obligatory nuance here.

[34:30]  ²¹ tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.

[34:30]  ²² tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.

[34:30]  ²³ tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.

[48:7]  ²³ tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”

[48:7]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.