Job 1:3

1:3 His possessions ¹  included ²  7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys; in addition he had a very great household. ³  Thus he ⁴  was the greatest of all the people in the east. ⁵ 

Genesis 24:35

24:35 “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy. ⁶  The Lord ⁷  has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

Genesis 26:12-14

26:12 When Isaac planted in that land, he reaped in the same year a hundred times what he had sown, ⁸  because the Lord blessed him. ⁹  26:13 The man became wealthy. ¹⁰  His influence continued to grow ¹¹  until he became very prominent. 26:14 He had ¹²  so many sheep ¹³  and cattle ¹⁴  and such a great household of servants that the Philistines became jealous ¹⁵  of him.

Psalms 107:38

107:38 He blessed ¹⁶  them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 144:13-15

144:13 Our storehouses ¹⁸  will be full,

providing all kinds of food. ¹⁹ 

Our sheep will multiply by the thousands

and fill ²⁰  our pastures. ²¹ 

144:14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ²² 

No one will break through our walls,

no one will be taken captive,

and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ²³ 

144:15 How blessed are the people who experience these things! ²⁴ 

How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

[1:3]  ¹ tn The word means “cattle, livestock, possessions” (see also Gen 26:14). Here it includes the livestock, but also the entire substance of his household.

[1:3]  ² tn Or “amounted to,” “totaled.” The preterite of הָיָה (hayah, “to be”) is sometimes employed to introduce a total amount or an inventory (see Exod 1:5; Num 3:43).

[1:3]  ³ tn The word עֲבֻדָּה (’avuddah, “service of household servants”) indicates that he had a very large body of servants, meaning a very large household.

[1:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and that man.”

[1:3]  ⁵ tn The expression is literally “sons of the east.” The use of the genitive after “sons” in this construction may emphasize their nature (like “sons of belial”); it would refer to them as easterners (like “sons of the south” in contemporary American English). BDB 869 s.v. קֶדֶם says “dwellers in the east.”

[24:35]  ⁶ tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Abraham’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are not excluded.

[24:35]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he.” The referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “a hundredfold.”

[26:12]  ⁹ tn This final clause explains why Isaac had such a bountiful harvest.

[26:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “great.” In this context the statement refers primarily to Isaac’s material wealth, although reputation and influence are included.

[26:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he went, going and becoming great.” The construction stresses that his growth in possessions and power continued steadily.

[26:14]  ¹² tn Heb “and there was to him.”

[26:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “possessions of sheep.”

[26:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “possessions of cattle.”

[26:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb translated “became jealous” refers here to intense jealousy or envy that leads to hostile action (see v. 15).

[107:38]  ¹⁶ tn “Bless” here carries the nuance “endue with sexual potency, make fertile.” See Gen 1:28, where the statement “he blessed them” directly precedes the command “be fruitful and populate the earth” (see also 1:22). The verb “bless” carries this same nuance in Gen 17:16 (where God’s blessing of Sarai imparts to her the capacity to bear a child); 48:16 (where God’s blessing of Joseph’s sons is closely associated with their having numerous descendants); and Deut 7:13 (where God’s blessing is associated with fertility in general, including numerous descendants). See also Gen 49:25 (where Jacob uses the noun derivative in referring to “blessings of the breast and womb,” an obvious reference to fertility) and Gen 27:27 (where the verb is used of a field to which God has given the capacity to produce vegetation).

[107:38]  ¹⁷ tn The verbal form in this line appears to be an imperfect, which may be taken as customary (drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame) or as generalizing (in which case one should use the English present tense, understanding a move from narrative to present reality).

[144:13]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[144:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).

[144:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they are innumerable.”

[144:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).

[144:14]  ²² tn Heb “weighted down.” This probably refers (1) to the cattle having the produce from the harvest placed on their backs to be transported to the storehouses (see BDB 687 s.v. סָבַל). Other options are (2) to take this as reference to the cattle being pregnant (see HALOT 741 s.v. סבל pu) or (3) to their being well-fed or fattened (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 288).

[144:14]  ²³ tn Heb “there [will be] no breach, and there [will be] no going out, and there [will be] no crying out in our broad places.”

[144:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[O] the happiness of the people who [it is] such to them.”