Psalms 43:2

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹ 

Why do you reject me? ² 

Why must I walk around ³  mourning ⁴ 

because my enemies oppress me?

Psalms 71:9

71:9 Do not reject me in my old age! ⁵ 

When my strength fails, do not abandon me!

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ⁶ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ⁷ 

Genesis 4:14

4:14 Look! You are driving me off the land ⁸  today, and I must hide from your presence. ⁹  I will be a homeless wanderer on the earth; whoever finds me will kill me.”

Genesis 4:2

4:2 Then she gave birth ¹⁰  to his brother Abel. ¹¹  Abel took care of the flocks, while Cain cultivated the ground. ¹² 

Genesis 13:1

Abram’s Solution to the Strife

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. ¹³  He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. ¹⁴ 

Genesis 17:18-23

17:18 Abraham said to God, “O that ¹⁵  Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁶ 

17:19 God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. ¹⁷  I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual ¹⁸  covenant for his descendants after him. 17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. ¹⁹  I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. ²⁰  He will become the father of twelve princes; ²¹  I will make him into a great nation. 17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” 17:22 When he finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him. ²² 

17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and every male in his household (whether born in his house or bought with money) ²³  and circumcised them ²⁴  on that very same day, just as God had told him to do.

Genesis 23:1-2

The Death of Sarah

23:1 Sarah lived 127 years. ²⁵  23:2 Then she ²⁶  died in Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. Abraham went to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ²⁷ 

Genesis 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ²⁸  and let dry ground appear.” ²⁹  It was so.

[43:2]  ¹ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ² tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ³ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ⁴ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[71:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”

[71:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[4:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “from upon the surface of the ground.”

[4:14]  ⁹ sn I must hide from your presence. The motif of hiding from the Lord as a result of sin also appears in Gen 3:8-10.

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “And she again gave birth.”

[4:2]  ¹¹ sn The name Abel is not defined here in the text, but the tone is ominous. Abel’s name, the Hebrew word הֶבֶל (hevel), means “breath, vapor, vanity,” foreshadowing Abel’s untimely and premature death.

[4:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and Abel was a shepherd of the flock, and Cain was a worker of the ground.” The designations of the two occupations are expressed with active participles, רֹעֵה (ro’eh, “shepherd”) and עֹבֵד (’oved, “worker”). Abel is occupied with sheep, whereas Cain is living under the curse, cultivating the ground.

[13:1]  ¹³ tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).

[13:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”

[17:18]  ¹⁵ tn The wish is introduced with the Hebrew particle לוּ (lu), “O that.”

[17:18]  ¹⁶ tn Or “live with your blessing.”

[17:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will call his name Isaac.” The name means “he laughs,” or perhaps “may he laugh” (see the note on the word “laughed” in v. 17).

[17:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “as an eternal.”

[17:20]  ¹⁹ sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.

[17:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.

[17:20]  ²¹ tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.

[17:22]  ²² tn Heb “And when he finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.” The sequence of pronouns and proper names has been modified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:23]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “circumcised the flesh of their foreskin.” The Hebrew expression is somewhat pleonastic and has been simplified in the translation.

[23:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And the years of Sarah were one hundred years and twenty years and seven years, the years of the life of Sarah.”

[23:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Sarah.” The proper name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“she”) for stylistic reasons.

[23:2]  ²⁷ sn Mourn…weep. The description here is of standard mourning rites (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 149-50). They would have been carried out in the presence of the corpse, probably in Sarah’s tent. So Abraham came in to mourn; then he rose up to go and bury his dead (v. 3).

[1:9]  ²⁸ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.