Genesis 6:12

6:12 God saw the earth, and indeed ¹  it was ruined, ²  for all living creatures ³  on the earth were sinful. ⁴ 

Genesis 8:14

8:14 And by the twenty-seventh day of the second month the earth ⁵  was dry.

Genesis 10:8

10:8 Cush was the father of ⁶  Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth.

Genesis 22:8

22:8 “God will provide ⁷  for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham replied. The two of them continued on together.

Genesis 33:3

33:3 But Jacob ⁸  himself went on ahead of them, and he bowed toward the ground seven times as he approached ⁹  his brother.

Genesis 34:15

34:15 We will give you our consent on this one condition: You must become ¹⁰  like us by circumcising ¹¹  all your males.

Genesis 41:17

41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing ¹²  by the edge of the Nile.

Genesis 45:24

45:24 Then he sent his brothers on their way and they left. He said to them, “As you travel don’t be overcome with fear.” ¹³ 

[6:12]  ¹ tn Or “God saw how corrupt the earth was.”

[6:12]  ² tn The repetition in the text (see v. 11) emphasizes the point.

[6:12]  ³ tn Heb “flesh.” Since moral corruption is in view here, most modern western interpreters understand the referent to be humankind. However, the phrase “all flesh” is used consistently of humankind and the animals in Gen 6-9 (6:17, 19; 7:15-16, 21; 8:17; 9:11, 15-17), suggesting that the author intends to picture all living creatures, humankind and animals, as guilty of moral failure. This would explain why the animals, not just humankind, are victims of the ensuing divine judgment. The OT sometimes views animals as morally culpable (Gen 9:5; Exod 21:28-29; Jonah 3:7-8). The OT also teaches that a person’s sin can contaminate others (people and animals) in the sinful person’s sphere (see the story of Achan, especially Josh 7:10). So the animals could be viewed here as morally contaminated because of their association with sinful humankind.

[6:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “had corrupted its way.” The third masculine singular pronominal suffix on “way” refers to the collective “all flesh.” The construction “corrupt one’s way” occurs only here (though Ezek 16:47 uses the Hiphil in an intransitive sense with the preposition בְּ [bet, “in”] followed by “ways”). The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) means “to ruin, to destroy, to corrupt,” often as here in a moral/ethical sense. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to behavior or moral character, a sense that it frequently carries (see BDB 203 s.v. דֶּרֶךְ 6.a).

[8:14]  ⁵ tn In v. 13 the ground (הָאֲדָמָה, ha’adamah) is dry; now the earth (הָאָרֶץ, ha’arets) is dry.

[10:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “fathered.” Embedded within Cush’s genealogy is an account of Nimrod, a mighty warrior. There have been many attempts to identify him, but none are convincing.

[22:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “will see for himself.” The construction means “to look out for; to see to it; to provide.”

[33:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “until his drawing near unto his brother.” The construction uses the preposition with the infinitive construct to express a temporal clause.

[34:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “if you are like us.”

[34:15]  ²² tn The infinitive here explains how they would become like them.

[41:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.

[45:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “do not be stirred up in the way.” The verb means “stir up.” Some understand the Hebrew verb רָגָז (ragaz, “to stir up”) as a reference to quarreling (see Prov 29:9, where it has this connotation), but in Exod 15:14 and other passages it means “to fear.” This might refer to a fear of robbers, but more likely it is an assuring word that they need not be fearful about returning to Egypt. They might have thought that once Jacob was in Egypt, Joseph would take his revenge on them.