Genesis 9:23

9:23 Shem and Japheth took the garment ¹  and placed it on their shoulders. Then they walked in backwards and covered up their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned ²  the other way so they did not see their father’s nakedness.

Genesis 11:29

11:29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, ³  and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah; ⁴  she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah.

Genesis 11:31

11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (the son of Haran), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and with them he set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. When they came to Haran, they settled there.

Genesis 12:5

12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew ⁵  Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired ⁶  in Haran, and they left for ⁷  the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

Genesis 17:23

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ⁸  and circumcised them ⁹  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.

Genesis 21:14

21:14 Early in the morning Abraham took ¹⁰  some food ¹¹  and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child, ¹²  and sent her away. So she went wandering ¹³  aimlessly through the wilderness ¹⁴  of Beer Sheba.

Genesis 22:3

22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. ¹⁵  He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out ¹⁶  for the place God had spoken to him about.

Genesis 22:13

22:13 Abraham looked up ¹⁷  and saw ¹⁸  behind him ¹⁹  a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he ²⁰  went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Genesis 24:10

24:10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal. ²¹  He journeyed ²²  to the region of Aram Naharaim ²³  and the city of Nahor.

Genesis 32:22

32:22 During the night Jacob quickly took ²⁴  his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons ²⁵  and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁶ 

Genesis 36:6

36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the people in his household, his livestock, his animals, and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to a land some distance away from ²⁷  Jacob his brother

Genesis 42:16

42:16 One of you must go and get ²⁸  your brother, while ²⁹  the rest of you remain in prison. ³⁰  In this way your words may be tested to see if ³¹  you are telling the truth. ³²  If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

[9:23]  ¹ tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?

[9:23]  ² tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”

[11:29]  ³ sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.

[11:29]  ⁴ sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.

[12:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the son of his brother.”

[12:5]  ⁶ tn For the semantic nuance “acquire [property]” for the verb עָשָׂה (’asah), see BDB 795 s.v. עָשָׂה.

[12:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “went out to go.”

[17:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “Ishmael his son and all born in his house and all bought with money, every male among the men of the house of Abraham.”

[17:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.

[21:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Abraham rose up early in the morning and he took.”

[21:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[21:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “He put upon her shoulder, and the boy [or perhaps, “and with the boy”], and he sent her away.” It is unclear how “and the boy” relates syntactically to what precedes. Perhaps the words should be rearranged and the text read, “and he put [them] on her shoulder and he gave to Hagar the boy.”

[21:14]  ¹² tn Heb “she went and wandered.”

[21:14]  ¹³ tn Or “desert,” although for English readers this usually connotes a sandy desert like the Sahara rather than the arid wasteland of this region with its sparse vegetation.

[22:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”

[22:3]  ¹² tn Heb “he arose and he went.”

[22:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “lifted his eyes.”

[22:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and saw, and look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) draws attention to what Abraham saw and invites the audience to view the scene through his eyes.

[22:13]  ¹⁵ tc The translation follows the reading of the MT; a number of Hebrew mss, the LXX, Syriac, and Samaritan Pentateuch read “one” (אֶחָד, ’ekhad) instead of “behind him” (אַחַר, ’akhar).

[22:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Abraham”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[24:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and every good thing of his master was in his hand.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial, explaining that he took all kinds of gifts to be used at his discretion.

[24:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he arose and went.”

[24:10]  ¹⁷ tn The words “the region of” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[32:22]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he arose in that night and he took.” The first verb is adverbial, indicating that he carried out the crossing right away.

[32:22]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term used here is יֶלֶד (yeled) which typically describes male offspring. Some translations render the term “children” but this is a problem because by this time Jacob had twelve children in all, including one daughter, Dinah, born to Leah (Gen 30:21). Benjamin, his twelfth son and thirteenth child, was not born until later (Gen 35:16-19).

[32:22]  ¹⁹ sn Hebrew narrative style often includes a summary statement of the whole passage followed by a more detailed report of the event. Here v. 22 is the summary statement, while v. 23 begins the detailed account.

[36:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from before.”

[42:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.

[42:16]  ²² tn The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.

[42:16]  ²³ tn Heb “bound.”

[42:16]  ²⁴ tn The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the truth [is] with you.”