Genesis 9:9

9:9 “Look! I now confirm ¹  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ² 

Genesis 13:15

13:15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants ³  forever.

Genesis 15:3

15:3 Abram added, ⁴  “Since ⁵  you have not given me a descendant, then look, one born in my house will be my heir!” ⁶ 

Genesis 16:10

16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, ⁷  “so that they will be too numerous to count.” ⁸ 

Genesis 17:9

17:9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep ⁹  the covenantal requirement ¹⁰  I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.

Genesis 19:32

19:32 Come, let’s make our father drunk with wine ¹¹  so we can have sexual relations ¹²  with him and preserve ¹³  our family line through our father.” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 21:13

21:13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation, for he is your descendant too.”

Genesis 22:18

22:18 Because you have obeyed me, ¹⁵  all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another ¹⁶  using the name of your descendants.’”

Genesis 38:8

38:8 Then Judah said to Onan, “Have sexual relations with ¹⁷  your brother’s wife and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her so that you may raise ¹⁸  up a descendant for your brother.” ¹⁹ 

Genesis 46:7

46:7 He brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, ²⁰  his daughters and granddaughters – all his descendants.

[9:9]  ¹ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ² tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[13:15]  ³ tn Heb “for all the land which you see to you I will give it and to your descendants.”

[15:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “And Abram said.”

[15:3]  ⁶ tn The construction uses הֵן (hen) to introduce the foundational clause (“since…”), and וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh) to introduce the main clause (“then look…”).

[15:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “is inheriting me.”

[16:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “The Lord’s angel said, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants….” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “cannot be numbered because of abundance.”

[17:9]  ⁹ tn The imperfect tense could be translated “you shall keep” as a binding command; but the obligatory nuance (“must”) captures the binding sense better.

[17:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my covenant.” The Hebrew word בְּרִית (bÿrit) can refer to (1) the agreement itself between two parties (see v. 7), (2) the promise made by one party to another (see vv. 2-3, 7), (3) an obligation placed by one party on another, or (4) a reminder of the agreement. In vv. 9-10 the word refers to a covenantal obligation which God gives to Abraham and his descendants.

[19:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “drink wine.”

[19:32]  ¹² tn Heb “and we will lie down.” The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive is subordinated to the preceding cohortative and indicates purpose/result.

[19:32]  ¹³ tn Or “that we may preserve.” Here the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates their ultimate goal.

[19:32]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”

[22:18]  ¹³ tn In the Hebrew text this causal clause comes at the end of the sentence. The translation alters the word order for stylistic reasons.

[22:18]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally the verb is taken as passive (“will be blessed”) here, as if Abraham’s descendants were going to be a channel or source of blessing to the nations. But the Hitpael is better understood here as reflexive/reciprocal, “will bless [i.e., pronounce blessings on] themselves/one another” (see also Gen 26:4). Elsewhere the Hitpael of the verb “to bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11. Earlier formulations of this promise (see Gen 12:2; 18:18) use the Niphal stem. (See also Gen 28:14.)

[38:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “go to.” The expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[38:8]  ¹⁶ tn The imperative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose.

[38:8]  ¹⁷ sn Raise up a descendant for your brother. The purpose of this custom, called the levirate system, was to ensure that no line of the family would become extinct. The name of the deceased was to be maintained through this custom of having a child by the nearest relative. See M. Burrows, “Levirate Marriage in Israel,” JBL 59 (1940): 23-33.

[46:7]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “with him” here. This is omitted in the translation because it is redundant in English style (note the same phrase earlier in the verse).