Genesis 9:12

9:12 And God said, “This is the guarantee ¹  of the covenant I am making ²  with you ³  and every living creature with you, a covenant ⁴  for all subsequent ⁵  generations:

Genesis 9:16

9:16 When the rainbow is in the clouds, I will notice it and remember ⁶  the perpetual covenant between God and all living creatures of all kinds that are on the earth.”

Genesis 17:7-8

17:7 I will confirm ⁷  my covenant as a perpetual ⁸  covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. ⁹  17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹⁰  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ¹¹  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 48:4

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ¹²  and will multiply you. ¹³  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ¹⁴  as an everlasting possession.’ ¹⁵ 

Genesis 49:26

49:26 The blessings of your father are greater

than ¹⁶  the blessings of the eternal mountains ¹⁷ 

or the desirable things of the age-old hills.

They will be on the head of Joseph

and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ¹⁸ 

[9:12]  ¹ tn Heb “sign.”

[9:12]  ² sn On the making of covenants in Genesis, see W. F. Albright, “The Hebrew Expression for ‘Making a Covenant’ in Pre-Israelite Documents,” BASOR 121 (1951): 21-22.

[9:12]  ³ tn Heb “between me and between you.”

[9:12]  ⁴ tn The words “a covenant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[9:12]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew term עוֹלָם (’olam) means “ever, forever, lasting, perpetual.” The covenant would extend to subsequent generations.

[9:16]  ⁶ 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.”

[17:7]  ¹¹ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).

[17:7]  ¹² tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”

[17:8]  ¹⁶ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

[17:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[48:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4]  ²² tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ²³ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).

[49:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “have prevailed over.”

[49:26]  ²⁷ tn One could interpret the phrase הוֹרַי (horay) to mean “my progenitors” (literally, “the ones who conceived me”), but the masculine form argues against this. It is better to emend the text to הַרֲרֵי (harare, “mountains of”) because it forms a better parallel with the next clause. In this case the final yod (י) on the form is a construct plural marker, not a pronominal suffix.

[49:26]  ²⁸ tn For further discussion of this passage, see I. Sonne, “Genesis 49:24-26,” JBL 65 (1946): 303-6.