[Gen 1]
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God ¹moved upon the face of the waters.

¹Or, was brooding upon the surface of the waters.

1:3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.²

²In each creative epoch there is first a command, or declaration of intention, followed by a confirmation of what was accomplished. (But see vss. 26-27 for a partial exception.) It may be inferred here that the atmosphere had been still too dense for sunlight to penetrate to the Earth’s surface, but not so hot as to be self-luminous (i.e., <700°C).

1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.³

³Or, Day one. or, a first day. Each day is reckoned as beginning and ending at noon, i.e., at its brightest, whether it be taken as literal or symbolic.

1:6 And God said, Let there be a ⁴sky in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

⁴Lit. expanse of air

1:7 And God made the sky, and divided the waters which are under the sky from the waters which are above the sky:⁵ and it was so.

⁵It is to be inferred that previously the atmospheric pressure at the solid surface of earth had not decreased to the critical pressure of water; so no vapor/liquid interface could form. (At the critical point of water the pressure, temperature, and density are: 22.06 MPa, 374°C, and 0.4 gm/cm³.)

1:8 And God called the sky Heavens. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.⁶

⁶This statement could be considered the first expression of one original continent, Pan-gea, and the theory of subsequent continental drift.

1:10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
1:11 And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, and fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so.
1:12 And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good.
1:13 And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.
1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the sky of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs,⁷ and for seasons, and for ⁸days and years:

⁷If this is the first mention of the reckoning of the signs of the Zodiac (Hb. Mazzaroth), it antedates the Babylonian concept by at least 17 centuries. If the Zodiac were first reckoned when the Sun at the summer solstice was in the 1^st degree of Virgo, it would have been in the range BC 4300-4011, a little earlier than the Ussher chronology, which would place the creation of man at BC 4004.
⁸Hb. םוי yom, day; the same word as in vs. 19. Yet there is an implied distinction between these days and the creative days.

1:15 and let them be for lights in the sky of the heavens to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
1:16 And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.⁹

⁹The characteristic optical-scattering depth of air is 10² (violet, at 0.4μm) to 10³ (deep red, at 0.7 μm) gmol/cm². If the appearance of Sun, Moon and stars resulted from escape of hydrogen from the Earth’s atmosphere, the corresponding difference in surface pressures would have been only from about 3 to 2 kg/cm² (0.3-0.2 MPa). The pressure reduction from unresolvable, to a blurred red Sun and Moon, to fully visible Sun, Moon and stars would be approximately 1 to 0.2 to 0.11 MPa. [Rayleigh scattering cross-sections are 1.7°10^-26 to 1.7° 10^-27 cm²/molecule (0.4 to 0.7 μm). Standard surface conditions today are 0.101325 MPa, 35 gmol/cm², 15°C, and 1.225 mg/cm³.]

1:17 And God set them in the sky of the heavens to give light upon the earth,
1:18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
1:19 And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.
1:20 And God said, ¹⁰Let the waters swarm with swarms of ¹¹living souls, and let birds fly above the earth ¹²in the open sky of the heavens.

¹⁰Attempts to explain the origin of life without a creator are failing. Evolution Theory has changed twice in a century and now looks similar to Creation Theory. Even so, physical features and DNA would require contradictory evolutionary trees.
¹¹Or, living creatures, And similarly in vss. 21 and 24
¹²Hb. on the face of the expanse of the heavens.

1:21 And God created ¹³the great sea-monsters, and every living soul that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind:¹⁴ and God saw that it was good.

¹³Quite possibly including the dinosaurs.
¹⁴After the herbs and trees had converted CO₂ to O₂ in the 3^rd period, and the atmospheric composition had been stabilized in the 4^th period, animate life could be created and sustained.

1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth.
1:23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.
1:24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living soul after its kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so.
1:25 And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.
1:26 And ¹⁵God said, Let us make ¹⁶man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

¹⁵Note: God (Elohim, plural) said (singular) Let us (plural)… The singular verb with a plural subject may be used to express that the plural individuals work in full harmony.
¹⁶Lit. Adam [red earth] Also in vs. 27.

1:27 And God created the man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;¹⁷ male and female created he them.¹⁸

¹⁷From the absence of mention that God also created man after our likeness one may infer that it was not then accomplished but remained for the future; similarly for the command about dominion. [But see ch. 5:1.]
¹⁸DNA measurements imply all women in the world are descended from a common female ancestor, and all men in the world are descended from a common male ancestor. Rebecca Cann, et. al., Nature 325, p. 31-36 (1Jan 1987); and Robert L. Dorit, et. al., Science 268, p. 1183-1185 (26 May 1995), including footnote 15.

1:28 And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that ¹⁹moveth upon the earth.

¹⁹Or, creepeth

1:29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food:
1:30 and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so.
1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
[Gen 2]
2:1 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2:2 And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created toward making it good.²⁰

²⁰The absence of a statement, There was evening and there was morning, a seventh day, is considered significant in Hebrew expression. It may imply that its work is unfinished, and/or that the seventh day has not ended. Whether the creative work was interrupted temporarily or permanently is not stated or implied in the Hebrew.

2:4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, ²¹in the day that Jehovah God made earth and the heavens.

²¹The description of the entire creative period as the day might imply that solar days are not intended in Chapter 1 either.

2:5 And no plant of the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet sprung up; for Jehovah God had not caused it to rain upon the earth: and there was not a man to till the ground;
2:6 but there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
2:7 And Jehovah God formed the ²²man of the ²³dust of the ²⁴ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of ²⁵life; and the man became a living soul.

²²Lit. Adam [red earth] (twice) And in vs. 8.
²³Or, clay or perhaps, elements
²⁴Hb. adamah [earth, ground, land] or, And Jehovah God formed the human of the dust of the humus, (The human body is composed of the naturally-occurring elements of the earth, most or all of which are essential to health.)
²⁵Lit. lives (pl.) And the lives in vs. 9, ch. 3:22, 24.

2:8 And Jehovah God planted a garden eastward, in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
2:9 And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2:10 ²⁶And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became four heads.

²⁶If vss. 10-14, which interrupt the context, are intended to parallel human history, then it may be inferred that Adam was created elsewhere in Eden before being put into the garden on the east side.

2:11 The name of the first is Pishon: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
2:12 and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the ²⁷onyx stone.

²⁷Or, beryl.

2:13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Cush.
2:14 And the name of the third river is ²⁸Hiddekel: that is it which goeth ²⁹in front of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

²⁸That is, Tigris:
²⁹Or, on the east side of

2:15 And Jehovah God took the ³⁰man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

³⁰Lit. Adam [red earth] And many times elsewhere.

2:16 And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden ³¹thou shalt surely begin to eat:

³¹Hb. to eat thou shalt eat:

2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof ³²thou shalt surely begin to die.

³²Hb. to die thou shalt die. And in ch. 3:4.

2:18 And Jehovah God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him ³³a visible help.

³³Or, a help answering to him. or, a co-helper.

2:19 And out of the ground Jehovah God formed every beast of the field, and every bird of the heavens; and brought them unto the man to see what he would call them: and whatsoever the man called every living soul, that was the name thereof.
2:20 And the man gave names to all the cattle, and to the birds of the heavens, and to every beast of the field; but for ³⁴man there was not found a visible help.

³⁴Hb. Adam

2:21 And Jehovah God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof:
2:22 and the rib, which Jehovah God had taken from the ³⁵man, ³⁶made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.

³⁵Hb. Adam … Isshah … Adam.
³⁶Hb. builded he into a woman,

2:23 And the man said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called ³⁷Woman, because she was taken out of ³⁸Man.

³⁷Hb. Isshah,
³⁸Hb. Ish.

2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
[Gen 3]
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yes, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of ³⁹every tree of the garden?

³⁹Or, any tree

3:2 And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
3:3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall surely not begin to die:
3:5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as ⁴⁰God, knowing good and evil.

⁴⁰Or, gods,

3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was ⁴¹to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.

⁴¹Or, desirable to look upon,

3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves ⁴²aprons.

⁴²Or, girdles.

3:8 And they heard the ⁴³voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the ⁴⁴cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the face of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden.

⁴³Or, sound
⁴⁴Hb. wind of the day: or, dawning:

3:9 And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
3:10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
3:12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
3:13 And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
3:14 And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, ⁴⁵cursed art thou ⁴⁶above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:

⁴⁵Hb. ררא, arar; to curse, to execrate. The strongest kind of curse. Also in vs. 17.
⁴⁶Or, from among (both times)

3:15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall ⁴⁷bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

⁴⁷Or, lie in wait for (both times) [Gesenius prefers; Tregelles disagrees. Cf. Hb word in Job 17:11 (broken off), Ps 139:11 (overwhelm).]

3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in ⁴⁸toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

⁴⁸Or, sorrow

3:18 thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
3:19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
3:20 And the man called his wife’s name ⁴⁹Eve; because she was the mother of all living.

⁴⁹Hb. Chavvah, that is, Living; or, Life;

3:21 And Jehovah God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins, and clothed them.
3:22 And Jehovah God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever —
3:23 therefore Jehovah God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
[Gen 4]
4:1 And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have ⁵⁰gotten a man with the help of Jehovah.

⁵⁰Hb. kanah, that is, to get

4:2 And again she bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
4:3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto Jehovah.
4:4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Jehovah had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
4:5 but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
4:6 And Jehovah said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? And why is thy countenance fallen?
4:7 If thou doest well, shall it not be lifted up? And if thou doest not well, sin coucheth at the door; and unto thee shall be its desire; but do thou rule over it.
4:8 And Cain ⁵¹told Abel his brother. And it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

⁵¹Hb. said unto

4:9 And Jehovah said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: am I my brother’s keeper?
4:10 And he said, What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.
4:11 And now cursed art thou from the ground, which hath opened its mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand;
4:12 when thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee its strength; a fugitive and a wanderer shalt thou be in the earth.
4:13 And Cain said unto Jehovah, ⁵²My punishment is greater ⁵³than I can bear.

⁵²Or, Mine iniquity
⁵³Or, than can be forgiven.

4:14 Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the ground; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth; and it will come to pass, that whosoever findeth me will slay me.
4:15 And Jehovah said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And Jehovah appointed a sign for Cain, lest any finding him should smite him.
4:16 And Cain went away from the face of Jehovah, and dwelt in the land of ⁵⁴Nod, ⁵⁵on the east of Eden.

⁵⁴That is, Wandering,
⁵⁵Or, in front of

4:17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.
4:18 And unto Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael; and Mehujael begat Methushael; and Methushael begat Lamech.
4:19 And Lamech took unto him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.
4:20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle.
4:21 And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and pipe.
4:22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubal-cain, the ⁵⁶forger of every cutting instrument of ⁵⁷copper and iron: and the sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

⁵⁶Or, an instructor of every artificer
⁵⁷Or, bronze or, brass And everywhere else.

4:23 And Lamech said unto his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; Ye wives of Lamech, hearken unto my speech: For I have slain a man ⁵⁸to my wounding, And a young man to my hurt:⁵⁹

⁵⁸Or, for my wounding, And a young man for my hurt:
⁵⁹Because there is no record of Lamech slaying anyone, it may be he is saying that he is the first of Cain’s generations to recognize that the slaying of Abel was what had hurt their race.

4:24 If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, Truly Lamech seventy and seven-fold.
4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For, said she, God ⁶⁰hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel; for Cain slew him.

⁶⁰Hb. shāth (for hath appointed)

4:26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enosh. Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.
[Gen 5]
5:1 ⁶¹This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created ⁶²man, in the likeness of God made he him;

⁶¹This expression is typical of a colophon – a line at the end of a page (or tablet), which is repeated at the top of the next page to indicate continuity. It usually summarizes the preceding account, and often it introduces the next section. See ch. 2:4, 6:9, 10:1, 10:32, 11:10, 11:27, 25:12, 25:19, 36:1.
⁶²Lit. Adam

5:2 male and female created he them, and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.
5:3 ⁶³And Adam lived a hundred thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

⁶³The Septuagint adds +100 years to the ages when sons were born, from Adam to Mahalalel, and also to Enoch (and for Lamech to 188 from 182).

5:4 and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.
5:5 And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.
5:6 And Seth lived a hundred five years, and begat Enosh:
5:7 and Seth lived after he begat Enosh eight hundred seven years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:8 and all the days of Seth were nine hundred twelve years: and he died.
5:9 And Enosh lived ninety years, and begat Kenan:
5:10 and Enosh lived after he begat Kenan eight hundred fifteen years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:11 and all the days of Enosh were nine hundred five years: and he died.
5:12 And Kenan lived seventy years, and begat Mahalalel:
5:13 and Kenan lived after he begat Mahalalel eight hundred forty years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:14 and all the days of Kenan were nine hundred ten years: and he died.
5:15 And Mahalalel lived sixty-five years, and begat Jared:
5:16 and Mahalalel lived after he begat Jared eight hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:17 and all the days of Mahalalel were eight hundred ninety-five years: and he died.
5:18 And Jared lived a hundred sixty-two years, and begat Enoch:
5:19 and Jared lived after he begat Enoch eight hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:20 and all the days of Jared were nine hundred sixty-two years: and he died.
5:21 And Enoch lived sixty-five years, and begat Methuselah:
5:22 and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:23 and all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty-five years:
5:24 and Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.
5:25 And Methuselah lived one hundred eighty-seven years, and begat Lamech:
5:26 and Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty-two years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:27 and all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty-nine years: and he died.
5:28 And Lamech lived a hundred eighty-two years, and begat a son:
5:29 and he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall ⁶⁴comfort us ⁶⁵in our work and in the toil of our hands, which cometh because of the ground which Jehovah hath cursed!

⁶⁴Hb. nahem, to comfort.
⁶⁵In… in… because of Hb. from (three times)

5:30 And Lamech lived after he begat Noah five hundred ninety-five years, and begat sons and daughters:
5:31 And all the days of Lamech were seven hundred seventy-seven years: and he died.
5:32 And ⁶⁶Noah was five hundred years old: and Noah begat Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

⁶⁶DNA studies show that there is one common ancestor each for all men and all women, and that the male ancestor may be more recent. [Noah is more recent than Eve.] It is suggested most ethnic groups “remained small throughout the last glaciation, before they underwent roughly simultaneous expansions.” [Population in the ark was small.] Nature Genetics 26, p. 358-361 (Nov. 2000).

[Gen 6]
6:1 And it came to pass, when man began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born unto them,
6:2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of man that they were fair; and they took them wives of all that they chose.
6:3 And Jehovah said, ⁶⁷My Spirit shall not ⁶⁸strive in man for ever, ⁶⁹in their going astray they are flesh: his days shall be ⁷⁰yet a hundred twenty years.

⁶⁷Or, My spirits shall not rule among men for ever, or, …among the race of Adam for ever, [Spirit and man may both be generic plurals.]
⁶⁸Or, rule in According to Gk. Septuagint, Aramaic, and Latin Vulgate, abide in
⁶⁹Or, for that he also is flesh:
⁷⁰Or, therefore

6:4 The ⁷¹Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of man, and they bare children to them: the same were the ⁷²mighty men that were of old, the men of renown.

⁷¹Or, fallen ones or, fellers (maniacal killers) or, giants Compare Nu 13:33.
⁷²Neanderthal mtDNA is scarcely found in the DNA of modern humans, suggesting Neanderthal is among the possible remains of these progeny. Nature 404, p. 490-492 (30 March 2000). [But “comparison with modern populations provides no evidence for the multiregional hypothesis of modern human evolution.”]

6:5 And Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6:6 And it repenteth Jehovah that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
6:7 And Jehovah said, I will ⁷³destroy man whom I have created from the face of the ground; both man, and beast, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; for it repented me that I have made them.

⁷³Hb. blot out

6:8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of Jehovah.
6:9 These are the ⁷⁴generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and ⁷⁵perfect in his generations: Noah walked with God.

⁷⁴Or, origins or, ancestors or, family history Similarly in many places. Cf. footnote on ch. 2:4.
⁷⁵Or, blameless

6:10 And Noah begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
6:11 And the earth was corrupt before the face of God, and the earth was filled with violence.
6:12 And God saw the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.
6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
6:14 Make thee an ark of gopher wood; ⁷⁶rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch.

⁷⁶Hb, nests Thus, stacking might be inferred.

6:15 And this is how thou shalt make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits.
6:16 A ⁷⁷light shalt thou make to the ark, and to a cubit shalt thou finish it ⁷⁸upward; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it.

⁷⁷Or, roof
⁷⁸Or, from above; Perhaps a 1:25 slanted roof.

6:17 And I, behold, I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is in the earth shall die.
6:18 But I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons wives with thee.
6:19 ⁷⁹And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; ⁸⁰they shall be male and female.

⁷⁹A large estimate of the number of land mammalia species is: 290 larger than a sheep, 757 from size of a sheep to size of a rat, and 1359 smaller than the size of a rat; with average about the size of a cat. [Estimate reportedly from Dr. Harry Rimmer.] Floor space might be 14,000 m² (±30%), or 6 m² per species, before accounting for any stacking.
⁸⁰Thus, two pair seems to be implied.

6:20 Of the birds after their kind, and of the cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive.
6:21 And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
[Gen 7]
7:1 And Jehovah said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
7:2 ⁸¹Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee seven and seven, the male and his female; and of the beasts that are not clean two, the male and his female:

⁸¹Assuring a larger gene pool for the clean animals.

7:3 of the birds also of the heavens, seven and seven, male and female, to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made will I ⁸²destroy from off the face of the ground.

⁸²Hb. blot out

7:5 And Noah did according unto all that Jehovah commanded him.
7:6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7:7 And ⁸³Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.

⁸³Even today, the Chinese character for boat is composed of: a vessel + 8 + mouths. See C.H. Kang and Ethel R. Nelson, “The Discovery of Genesis;” St. Louis: Concordia, 1979. [Also shown are characters implying one God, creation of man from the ground, and devil among the trees.]

7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creepeth upon the ground,
7:9 there went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, male and female, as God commanded Noah.
7:10 And it came to pass after the seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
7:12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
7:13 In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;
7:14 they, and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, every songbird of every ⁸⁴sort.

⁸⁴Hb. wing.

7:15 And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh wherein is the breath of life.
7:16 And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God commanded him: and Jehovah shut him in.
7:17 And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lifted up above the earth.
7:18 And the waters prevailed, and increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark ⁸⁵went upon the face of the waters.

⁸⁵That is, floated.

7:19 And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high mountains that were under the whole heavens were covered.
7:20 Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
7:21 And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both birds, and cattle, and beasts, and every ⁸⁶creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man:

⁸⁶Or, swarming thing that swarmeth

7:22 ⁸⁷all which breathed in their nostrils the breath of life, of all that was on the dry land, died.

⁸⁷Thus, fish and vegetation are not necessarily included; birds of the sea may be in question.

7:23 And every living thing was ⁸⁸destroyed that was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and creeping things, and birds of the heavens; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only was left, and they that were with him in the ark.

⁸⁸Hb. blotted out (both times)

7:24 And the waters prevailed upon the earth a hundred fifty days.
[Gen 8]
8:1 And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged;
8:2 the fountains also of the deep and the windows of the heavens were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained;
8:3 and the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of a hundred fifty days the waters decreased.
8:4 And the ark rested in ⁸⁹the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of ⁹⁰Ararat.

⁸⁹Comparing with ch. 7:11, 5 months = 150 days; so there had evidently been 30 days to the month.
⁹⁰Or, Urartu (archaeology).

8:5 And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
8:6 And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made:
8:7 and he sent forth a raven, and it went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth.
8:8 And he sent forth a ⁹¹dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground;

⁹¹The flying range of a dove is short; that of the raven is relatively much longer.

8:9 but the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him to the ark; for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: and he put forth his hand, and took her, and brought her in unto him into the ark.
8:10 And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark;
8:11 and the dove came in to him toward eventide; and, lo, in her mouth ⁹²an olive-leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth.⁹³

⁹²Or, a fresh olive-leaf
⁹³It is thus evident that the window of the ark permitted no downward view.

8:12 And he stayed yet other seven days, and sent forth the dove; and she returned not again unto him any more.
8:13 And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dried.
8:14 And in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, was the earth dry.
8:15 And God spake unto Noah, saying,
8:16 Go forth from the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee.
8:17 Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee of all flesh, both birds, and cattle, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.
8:18 And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him:
8:19 every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, whatsoever moveth upon the earth, after their families, went forth out of the ark.
8:20 And Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah, and took of every clean beast, and of every clean bird, and offered burnt-offerings on the altar.
8:21 And Jehovah smelled the sweet savor; and Jehovah said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s ⁹⁴sake, for that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more everything living, as I have done.

⁹⁴Or, sake; for the imagination

8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
[Gen 9]
9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and ⁹⁵fill the earth.

⁹⁵Or, replenish the earth.

9:2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every bird of the heavens; with all wherewith the ground ⁹⁶teemeth, and all the fishes of the sea, into your hand are they delivered.

⁹⁶Or, creepeth,

9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be food for you; as the green herb have I given you all.
9:4 But flesh with the ⁹⁷soul thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

⁹⁷Hb. שׁפנ nephesh or, being and so elsewhere.

9:5 And surely your blood, the blood of your souls, will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it: and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the soul of the man.
9:6 Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
9:7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
9:8 And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
9:9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
9:10 and with every living soul that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you; of all that go out of the ark, even every beast of the earth.
9:11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of the flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
9:12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living soul that is with you, for perpetual generations:
9:13 ⁹⁸I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

⁹⁸Or, I have set my bow in the cloud,

9:14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud,
9:15 and I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living soul of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
9:16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living soul of all flesh that is upon the earth.
9:17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
9:18 And the sons of Noah, that went forth from the ark, were Shem, and Ham, and Japheth: and Ham is the father of Canaan.
9:19 These three were the sons of Noah: and of these was the whole earth overspread.
9:20 And Noah began to be a husbandman, and planted a vineyard:
9:21 and he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
9:22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
9:23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
9:24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his ⁹⁹youngest son had done unto him.

⁹⁹Or, younger son

9:25 And he said, Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
9:26 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem; And let Canaan be ¹⁰⁰his servant.

¹⁰⁰Or, their servant. Also in vs. 27.

9:27 God enlarge Japheth, And ¹⁰¹let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.

¹⁰¹Or, he shall dwell in the tents of Shem;

9:28 And Noah lived after the flood three hundred fifty years.
9:29 And all the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years: and he died.
[Gen 10]
10:1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, namely, of Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
10:2 The ¹⁰²sons of ¹⁰³Japheth: ¹⁰⁴Gomer, and ¹⁰⁵Magog, and ¹⁰⁶Madai, and ¹⁰⁷Javan, and ¹⁰⁸Tubal, and ¹⁰⁹Meshech, and ¹¹⁰Tiras.¹¹¹

¹⁰²Or, tribes who broke off from Japheth: And similarly many places.
¹⁰³Associated with Jupiter? Lands to the North.
¹⁰⁴Or, Cimmer or, Kimmer (in Herodotus). Great kingdom destroyed by Scythians ca. BC 640.
¹⁰⁵Ma – Gog = greater region of – the high people or, – Saka, hence Ma-Saka-Ta (=Massagetae) greater region of – the Gog – hordes: ancient homeland around the Caspian Sea, incl. Volga River Valley; capital in the Caucasus mountains. Includes the Mongol, Kazakh (=Ka-Saka, English Cossack), Uzbek, Scythian, Sogdian (=Saka-Ta), Samoyed, Korean, Yakut (Sakha), Eskimo tribes. Anciently famous for breeding horses, especially for war.
¹⁰⁶Mede: ancient homeland S. of Caucasus Mts. Includes the Mitanni, Mede, Persian (“Division” of the Medes) tribes.
¹⁰⁷Ionia. The original Greeks.
¹⁰⁸Kart'velian (Kara – Tubal, the Rocky mountains of Warm Springs): S. side of Caucasus Mts.; capital Tbilisi, or, Tiflis. Anciently famous for metallurgy. Includes the Tibarene, Ibere, Alan (went to Spain).
¹⁰⁹ Armenia. Modern Kayseri = ancient Caesaria Mazaca. The Moschi, Armenian tribe. [Josephus says Cappadocia, SW of Caucasus Mts.]
¹¹⁰Or, Thrace. Includes Troy, Troas; Etruscan, Tyrhennian Sea, Roman tribes; also colonized Tyre.
¹¹¹Targ^J adds And the names of their provinces: Phrygia, Germania, Media, Macedonia, Bithynia, Asia, and Thrace [Thracia]. So M. Maher.

10:3 And the sons of Gomer: ¹¹²Ashkenaz, and ¹¹³Riphath, and ¹¹⁴Togarmah.

¹¹²Germanic tribes (Scanza, Scandanavia). Includes the German (Allemani), Anglo-Saxon, Frank, Burgundian, Visigoth, Sueve, Vandal; Herule, Ostrogoth, Lombard subtribes. Went upstream along the Danube River to the Elbe, Rhine basins.
¹¹³Slavic tribes. Ancient homeland Kara – Riphath (Rocky Mts. of Riphath, or, Carpathian Mts.) Includes Byelorussian; Pole, Czech, Slovak; Serbian, Croatian (Josephus adds Paphlagonian) tribes. Went upstream along the Dniepr, Dniestr, and Prut rivers even to the Vistula.
¹¹⁴Tocharian (Turkic) tribes. (Sept. Thorgama = Turk.) Includes Turkey, Turkestan; Turk, Finn, Phrygian. Tocharian is an East European language, which died out in Sinkiang (NW China) in the 9^th century.

10:4 And the sons of Javan: ¹¹⁵Elishah, and ¹¹⁶Tarshish, ¹¹⁷Kittim, and ¹¹⁸Dodanim.

¹¹⁵Aeolian.
¹¹⁶Keltic (Celtic) tribes. Went to westernmost Europe, but also colonized Tarsus in Cilicia. Includes Belgae, Britons, Celtiberians, Gauls (some of whom conquered Galatia in central Turkey) and Gaels.
¹¹⁷Macedonia. Ma – Kittim – Na = greater – Kittim – homeland; colonized Cyprus. [The goat was their emblem; whence the name, Aegean (Goat) Sea.]
¹¹⁸Dorians, or, Spartans. (Rodanim in 1Chr 1:7, whence the name, Rhodes.)

10:5 Of these were the coastlands of the ¹¹⁹nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

¹¹⁹Hb. Goyim (both times) And in vss. 20 and 31.

10:6 And the sons of ¹²⁰Ham: ¹²¹Cush, and ¹²²Mizraim, and ¹²³Put, and ¹²⁴Canaan.

¹²⁰Lands to the South.
¹²¹Black Africa and S. India (Dravidian tribes). The most numerous of Hamitic peoples.
¹²²Lit. the two Egypts (the Nile Delta, and upstream Nile to the First Cataract), and NE to Gaza.
¹²³N. Africa, west of Egypt: Berber, Moor.
¹²⁴E. coast of Mediterranean Sea.

10:7 And the sons of Cush: Seba, and ¹²⁵Havilah, and Sabtah, and ¹²⁶Raamah, and Sabteca; and the sons of Raamah: ¹²⁷Sheba and ¹²⁸Dedan.

¹²⁵Possibly along the Araxes River. Cf. ch. 2:11.
¹²⁶Likely along the Red Sea.
¹²⁷Yemen. The greenest part of Arabia, in the SW. Some of Sheba and Dedan were descendants of Abraham. Ge 25:1-3.
¹²⁸Likely N. Arabia, from the Red Sea to Persian Gulf.

10:8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he was first to be a mighty one in the earth.
10:9 He was a ¹²⁹mighty hunter before Jehovah: wherefore it is said, Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before Jehovah.

¹²⁹Targ^N reads giant in sin Targ^J reads mighty man of rebellion

10:10 And the beginning of his kingdom was ¹³⁰Babel, and ¹³¹Erech, and ¹³²Accad, and Calneh, in the land of ¹³³Shinar.

¹³⁰Near the ancient great city of Kish (Cush), to which it appears to be closely related. Targ^J reads Babylon the Great, Edessa, Nisibis, and Ctesiphon,
¹³¹Uruk (sometimes the ruling city). Modern Warka.
¹³²Or, Akkad.
¹³³Sumer (archaeology).

10:11 Out of that land ¹³⁴he went forth into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and ¹³⁵Calah,

¹³⁴Or, went forth Asshur, Might imply Asshur was driven out.
¹³⁵Probably on the site of the ruins called Nimrud.

10:12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (the same is the great city).
10:13 And Mizraim begat ¹³⁶Ludim, and ¹³⁷Anamim, and ¹³⁸Lehabim, and ¹³⁹Naphtuhim,

¹³⁶Speculation: Colonized the coasts of Turkey; later subjected by, and absorbed into, Lydia. Cf. vs. 22.
¹³⁷Possibly Cyrene in NW Libya.
¹³⁸Libya.
¹³⁹Possibly Noph (= Menfre, Gk. Memphis) and most of the Nile Delta (called Lower Egypt).

10:14 and ¹⁴⁰Pathrusim, and ¹⁴¹Casluhim ¹⁴²(whence went forth the ¹⁴³Philistines), and ¹⁴⁴Caphtorim.

¹⁴⁰Pathros, whose dominant city was Thebes, or Luxor.
¹⁴¹Meaning Fortified (so Wm. Smith). Possibly the E. Delta. Bochart/Gesenius think they also colonized Colchis, on the E. coast of the Black Sea.
¹⁴²Or, (whence went forth the Philistines and Caphtorim). per Rotherham and Companion Bible. T.J. Meek says and Caphtorim, from whom the Philistines sprang. (though A.R. Gordon differs in 1Chr 1:12; An American Translation, 1931).
¹⁴³Hb. Pelishtim), Meaning sojourners, immigrants (so Wm. Smith). Already independent in Ge 26:1.
¹⁴⁴Crete. Meaning a crown (so Wm. Smith). The Minoan civilization. The Peoples of the Sea, who came to Philistia and may have been absorbed. See Dt 2:23, Jr 47:4, Am 9:7.

10:15 And Canaan begat ¹⁴⁵Sidon his firstborn, and ¹⁴⁶Heth,

¹⁴⁵Modern Saida, in Lebanon.
¹⁴⁶Hatti Land (archaeology). The Hittite. (Not related to the misnamed Anatolian “Hittite.”)

10:16 and the ¹⁴⁷Jebusite, and the ¹⁴⁸Amorite, and the ¹⁴⁹Girgashite,

¹⁴⁷Jebus, later renamed Jerusalem.
¹⁴⁸In the hill-country W. of the Dead Sea, and Gilead and Bashan E. of the Jordan River; also Amurru in N. Lebanon (archaeology).
¹⁴⁹Probably on the S. and E. of the Sea of Galilee. Compare footnotes of GNT for Lk 8:26, 37.

10:17 and the ¹⁵⁰Hivite, and the ¹⁵¹Arkite, and the Sinite,

¹⁵⁰In the hill country N. of Jerusalem, toward Hamath. Includes Gibeon; see Josh 9:3-15, 11:19.
¹⁵¹Arce, or, Acre, in Lebanon.

10:18 and the ¹⁵²Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the ¹⁵³Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanite spread abroad.

¹⁵²Ruad Island, 4 km off SW Syrian coast, S. of Tartus.
¹⁵³Hamath. Modern Hama, Syria.

10:19 And the border of the Canaanite was from Sidon, as thou goest toward Gerar, unto Gaza; as thou goest toward ¹⁵⁴Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim, unto ¹⁵⁵Lasha.

¹⁵⁴Four cities now underwater in the SE Dead Sea. Compare ch. 14:8, 19:24-25.
¹⁵⁵Possibly Laish (later Dan), SE of Sidon.

10:20 These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.
10:21 And unto Shem, the father of all the children of Eber, the ¹⁵⁶brother of Japheth the elder, to him also were children born.

¹⁵⁶Or, the elder brother of Japheth, But compare ch. 5:32; 7:6; 9:22, 24; 11:10. Thus Shem appears to be the middle son in age two years younger than Japheth.

10:22 The sons of ¹⁵⁷Shem: ¹⁵⁸Elam, and ¹⁵⁹Asshur, and ¹⁶⁰Arpachshad, and ¹⁶¹Lud, and ¹⁶²Aram.

¹⁵⁷Territory between Japheth and Ham.
¹⁵⁸Like Hb. olam (per Encycl. Judaica), meaning to a vanishing point; hence the most distant of peoples. Chinese (the most numerous of Semites), with a smaller contingent remaining in SW Iran.
¹⁵⁹Assyria, with its capital Ninevah along the Tigris R. Compare. vs. 11, and Jonah 3:3-4.
¹⁶⁰Chaldeans, both W. of Assyria and S. in Sumer.
¹⁶¹Lydia, in W. Turkey.
¹⁶²In Syria and SE Turkey. Aram Naharaim (Aram between the two Rivers) and Padan Aram (Field of Aram) are the portion N. of the Euphrates.

10:23 And the sons of Aram: ¹⁶³Uz, and ¹⁶⁴Hul, and ¹⁶⁵Gether, and ¹⁶⁶Mash.

¹⁶³Damascus and Trachonitis (per Josephus). Compare Job 1:1.
¹⁶⁴Possibly around Lake Huleh, in the upper Jordan R.
¹⁶⁵Probably Gedrosia and Bactria.
¹⁶⁶Meshech in 1Chr 1:17. Likely absorbed by the Armenian Kingdom.

10:24 And Arpachshad begat Shelah; and Shelah begat ¹⁶⁷Eber.

¹⁶⁷From which the word Hebrew, meaning crossed over [the River]; i.e., W. of the Euphrates River. The word Hebrew can include more Semites than the word Israelite ( from Jacob alone).

10:25 And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of the one was ¹⁶⁸Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was ¹⁶⁹Joktan.

¹⁶⁸That is, Division;
¹⁶⁹Meaning small. Oceanic islands and coastlands from S. Africa to the Americas.

10:26 And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and ¹⁷⁰Hazarmaveth, and ¹⁷¹Jerah,

¹⁷⁰Hadramawt. Aden or, S. Yemen.
¹⁷¹In S. Arabia (per Gesenius and Wm. Smith).

10:27 and ¹⁷²Hadoram, and ¹⁷³Uzal, and ¹⁷⁴Diklah,

¹⁷² Possibly in S. Arabia (per Gesenius).
¹⁷³Awzál. Modern San’a in Yemen.
¹⁷⁴Meaning palm grove (per Wm. Smith).

10:28 and ¹⁷⁵Obal, and Abimael, and ¹⁷⁶Sheba,

¹⁷⁵Meaning stripped bare (per Wm. Smith). Likely desert land therefore. In 1Chr 1:22, Ebal,
¹⁷⁶Probably one of three ethnic groups comprising Sheba (N. Yemen). Cf. vs. 7; ch. 25:3.

10:29 and ¹⁷⁷Ophir, and ¹⁷⁸Havilah, and ¹⁷⁹Jobab: all these were the sons of Joktan.

¹⁷⁷S. Africa which was originally Semitic (Nama or, Hottentot). Cf. 1Ki 9:28; 1Chr 29:4.
¹⁷⁸Same nation as in vs. 7. Two ethnic groups. Possibly identified with Chwalla by the Caspian Sea.
¹⁷⁹Meaning a desert (per Wm. Smith).

10:30 And their dwelling was from ¹⁸⁰Mesha, as thou goest toward ¹⁸¹Sephar, a ¹⁸²mountain of the east.

¹⁸⁰In Greek, Josephus says Cophen, a river in India. (Antiquities of the Jews I, vi, 4.) Major Semitic ethnic and linguistic groups not yet identified with names above include: Austroasiatic, Polynesian, Amerind, and Na-Dene (incl. Navajo).
¹⁸¹Possibly the Himalaya mountains.
¹⁸²Or, hill-country of the east.

10:31 These are the sons of Shem, after their families, ¹⁸³after their tongues, in their lands, after their nations.

¹⁸³The Semitic languages appear to best preserve word meanings and phonetics, although Indo-European has slightly better preserved meanings, and Georgian (Gruzian, Kart'velian) preserves phonetics almost as well. See V. Shevoroshkin and P.J. Sidwell, Historical Linguistics & Lexicostatistics; Melbourne: Association for the History of Language, 1999; p. 105-110.

10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and of these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
[Gen 11]
11:1 And the whole earth was of ¹⁸⁴one language and of one speech.

¹⁸⁴Hb. one lip and of one words. Most, if not all, languages appear to stem from one. [See V. Shevoroshkin, ed., Materials from the first International Interdisciplinary Symposium on Language and Prehistory, Ann Arbor, 8-12 November, 1988, 5 vols; Bochum, Germany: N. Brockmeyer, 1989-1992. See Reconstruction sections in vols. BPX 20, 23, 25 and 32, and The ‘Mother Tongue’ section in BPX 33. Classification of five thousand modern languages is given in M. Ruhlen, A Guide to the World’s Languages, Vol. 1; Stanford Univ. Press, 1987. Fewer than ten cannot (as yet) be classified; Sumerian is among them.]

11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the East, that they found a plain in the land of ¹⁸⁵Shinar; and they dwelt there.

¹⁸⁵Sumer (archaeology).

11:3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.¹⁸⁶ And they had brick for stone, and ¹⁸⁷slime had they for mortar.

¹⁸⁶Apparently silt at 1185°C, cooled for 20-40 hours.
¹⁸⁷That is, bitumen

11:4 And they said, Come, let us build a city, and a tower, whose top may look unto heaven, and let us make us a name; lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
11:5 And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man builded.
11:6 And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do: and now nothing will be withholden from them, which they purpose to do.
11:7 Come, let us go down, and there ¹⁸⁸confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

¹⁸⁸Hb. balah, meaning to confound

11:8 So Jehovah ¹⁸⁹scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city.

¹⁸⁹Whether the scattering caused the confounding, or vice-versa, remains to be decided. Possibly the Sumerian language was invented at Babel (Kish) as the world’s first clandestine language; and then the consequent scattering of other ethnic groups caused divergence of the original language into all other languages, as historical linguistics seems to imply.

11:9 Therefore was the name of it called Babel; because Jehovah did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did Jehovah scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
11:10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begat Arpachshad two years after the flood:
11:11 and Shem lived after he begat Arpachshad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:12 ¹⁹⁰And Arpachshad lived ¹⁹¹thirty-five years, and begat ¹⁹²Shelah:

¹⁹⁰The Septuagint adds +100 years to the ages when sons were born, from Arpachshad to Serug (and +50 years to that of Nahor), which is supported by the Samaritan Pentateuch and mostly by Josephus (but he also says Abraham was the tenth from Noah, and was born in the 292^nd year after the Deluge, which from the Massoretic text is the year Terah’s oldest son was born). The Massoretic Hebrew text is supported by the Aramaic (except it says Terah was 75, not 70) and the Latin Vulgate (except it says Arpachshad lived another 303 years, not 403). The Qumran scrolls for chs. 9-16 are missing (and only one word is preserved in ch. 5).
¹⁹¹With seven consecutive generations having been 29-35 years old, it is likely many of these sons were firstborn.
¹⁹²The Septuagint inserts a Kainan as the great grandson of Noah ( just as ch. 5:9 gives Kainan as the great grandson of Adam), and gives Kainan a chronology identical to Shelah. The Massoretic, Samaritan, Aramaic, Latin Vulgate, and Josephus omit this Kainan, although Lk 3:36 copies the Septuagint even to the addition of Kainan (Cainam).

11:13 and Arpachshad lived after he begat Shelah ¹⁹³four hundred three years, and begat sons and daughters.

¹⁹³Aramaic Targums alone read 430 years,

11:14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:
11:15 and Shelah lived after he begat Eber four hundred three years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:16 And ¹⁹⁴Eber lived thirty-four years, and begat Peleg:

¹⁹⁴A royal name Ebrium is well attested at Ebla, an ancient major city west of the Euphrates River.

11:17 and Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:
11:19 and Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred nine years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:20 And ¹⁹⁵Reu lived thirty two years, and begat Serug:

¹⁹⁵ Gk. Ragau per Josephus, Antiquities I, vi, 5. Association with modern Ar Raqqah is uncertain.

11:21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred seven years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:22 And ¹⁹⁶Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

¹⁹⁶The name is preserved in Sürüc, a city near Edessa (modern Urfa, Turkey).

11:23 and Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:24 And ¹⁹⁷Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begat Terah:

¹⁹⁷A city of Nahor is anciently attested several times. E.g., “The writer [of a letter to the king of Mari, Zimri-Lim, ca. BC 1700] is known both as the governor of Nahur (cf. Nahor, Gen. 11:26) on the upper Habur, and as an official at the court of Mari.” The Ancient Near East, ed. James B. Pritchard; Princeton, 1975. p. 174. (Others think Nahor was in the Balikh River valley.)

11:25 and Nahor lived after he begat Terah one hundred nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.
11:26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat ¹⁹⁸Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

¹⁹⁸Abram was apparently not born before Terah was 130 years old (vs. 32, ch. 12:4, Ac 7:4). Therefore Haran must be the firstborn. Thus Noah overlapped Haran by 49 years but died 11 years before Abram was born; Shem overlapped Abram by 141 years.

11:27 Now these are the generations of Terah. Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.
11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.
11:30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child.
11:31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran, his son’s son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram’s wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto ¹⁹⁹Haran, and dwelt there.

¹⁹⁹Modern Harran, downstream of Urfa, Turkey, remains a significant city. Evidently Terah built the city and named it after his firstborn, as Haran apparently never lived there (vs. 28). (It remains to be discovered why Terah had moved from Upper Mesopotamia to Ur before Haran was born.)

11:32 And the days of Terah were two hundred five years: and Terah died in Haran.
[Gen 12]
12:1 Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee:
12:2 and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing:
12:3 and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that disdaineth thee will I curse! and in thee shall all the families of the ground be blessed.
12:4 So Abram went, as Jehovah had spoken unto him; and Lot went with him: and Abram was seventy-five years old when he ²⁰⁰departed out of Haran.

²⁰⁰Apparently on Nisan 15. Cf. Ex 12:41.

12:5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran; and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came.
12:6 And Abram passed through the land unto the place of Shechem, unto the ²⁰¹oak of Moreh. And the Canaanite was then in the land.

²⁰¹Or, terebinth

12:7 And Jehovah appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto Jehovah, who appeared unto him.
12:8 And he removed from thence unto the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto Jehovah, and called upon the name of Jehovah.
12:9 And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the ²⁰²South.

²⁰²Hb. Negeb. the southern tract of Judah.

12:10 And there was a ²⁰³famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was sore in the land.

²⁰³Unusually hot dry weather would cause a famine to be progressively more severe in going south.

12:11 And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair woman to look upon:
12:12 and it will come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they will say, this is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
12:13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister; that it may be well with me for thy sake, and that my soul may live because of thee.
12:14 And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair.
12:15 And the princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh: and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
12:16 And he dealt well with Abram for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he-asses, and men-servants, and maid-servants, and she-asses, and camels.
12:17 And Jehovah plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
12:18 And Pharaoh called Abram, and said, What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why didst thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
12:19 why saidst thou, She is my sister, so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
12:20 And ²⁰⁴Pharaoh gave men charge concerning him: and they brought him on the way, and his wife, and all that he had.

²⁰⁴If Nebhepetre Ment'hotpe II (ca. BC 2055-2005), this Pharaoh had an unusually long reign.

[Gen 13]
13:1 And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the South.
13:2 And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
13:3 And he went on his journeys from the South even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai,
13:4 unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of Jehovah.
13:5 And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents.
13:6 And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together.
13:7 And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land.
13:8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we are brethren.
13:9 Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thy self, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou take the right hand, then I will go to the left.
13:10 And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the ²⁰⁵Plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Jehovah, like the land of Egypt, as thou goest unto Zoar.

²⁰⁵Or, Circle

13:11 So Lot chose him all the Plain of the Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other.
13:12 Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the ²⁰⁶cities of the Plain, and moved his tent as far as Sodom.

²⁰⁶These cities had already been tributaries to Elam for at least five years. See ch. 14:1-5. The West was first conquered by Lugal-zaggesi, king of Umma and Uruk (Erech). Sargon, king of Akkad, subdued him and became the first of five kings of Akkad to put the West to tribute. Gutium then conquered Akkad and Sumer; thence Utu-khegel, king of Uruk, conquered all and took the West, and then Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, came to power.

13:13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners against Jehovah exceedingly.
13:14 And Jehovah said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward and southward and eastward and westward:
13:15 for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.
13:16 And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then may thy seed also be numbered.
13:17 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for unto thee will I give it.
13:18 And Abram moved his tent, and came and dwelt by the ²⁰⁷oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and built there an altar unto Jehovah.

²⁰⁷Or, terebinths

[Gen 14]
14:1 And it came to pass in the days of ²⁰⁸Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of ²⁰⁹Ellasar, ²¹⁰Kedorlaghomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of ²¹¹Goiim,

²⁰⁸A Sumerian king who conquered the West, and 14 years later is killed in battle, points uniquely to Ur-Nammu, king of Sumer ( founder of the 3^rd Dynasty of Ur). Chronologies proposed for his reign are: Chronology BC Dates (1^st - last year of reign) High 2173-2156 Middle 2117-2100 Low 2053-2036 Very low 2029-2012 [Revisionists centuries later] Of these, the 2036, and possibly 2012, dates for his death are consistent with possible dates of Joseph.
²⁰⁹Likely Larsa, being more closely associated with Ur.
²¹⁰Or perhaps, Kutir-Laghamar (meaning, Servant of [the god] Laghamar).
²¹¹Or, nations, or, Gutium (archaeology).

14:2 that ²¹²they made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

²¹²It would appear Ur-Nammu put together an alliance with Sumer’s traditional enemies, Elam and Gutium, which gave Canaan to Elam, the mountains SE of the Dead Sea to Gutium (Hurrians, Horites), Aram (Syria) to Ur, and perhaps Mari or Lebanon to Larsa. There might be a connection between the first war and Abram’s departure to Haran; Abram would have known their military tactics and weaknesses. These two wars together may have ended the Early Bronze Age.

14:3 All these ²¹³joined together in the vale of Siddim (the same is now the Salt Sea).

²¹³Or, joined themselves together against

14:4 Twelve years they served Kedorlaghomer, and in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
14:5 And in the fourteenth year came Kedorlaghomer, and the kings that were with him, and smote the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in ²¹⁴Shaveh-kiriathaim,

²¹⁴Or, in the plain of Kiriathaim,

14:6 and the Horites in their mount Seir, unto El-paran, which is by the wilderness.
14:7 And they returned, and came to En-mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and smote all the ²¹⁵country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that dwelt in Hazazon-tamar.

²¹⁵Hb. field

14:8 And there went out the king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar); and they set the battle in array against them in the vale of Siddim;
14:9 against Kedorlaghomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.
14:10 Now the vale of Siddim was full of ²¹⁶slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain.

²¹⁶That is, bitumen pits;

14:11 And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.
14:12 And they took ²¹⁷Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

²¹⁷Except for this tactical mistake, the eastern kings would likely not have encountered Abram.

14:13 And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew: now he dwelt by the ²¹⁸oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were confederate with Abram.

²¹⁸Or, terebinths

14:14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, ²¹⁹three hundred eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

²¹⁹Written as alphabetic numerics, שיח, chiysh, to make haste,

14:15 And he divided himself against them ²²⁰by night, he and his servants, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the ²²¹left hand of Damascus.

²²⁰Witness to this surprise attack is borne by a Sumerian tablet, saying, [Ur-Nammu] “had been abandoned on the battlefield like a crushed vessel.” Samuel Noah Kramer, “The Sumerians;” Univ. Chicago Press, 1963; p. 68, 131.
²²¹Or, north of Damascus.

14:16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought back his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
14:17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, ²²²after his return from the slaughter of Kedorlaghomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh (the same is the King’s Vale).

²²²Likely not before the eighth month (about the modern May), as Spring began the fighting season, and the Elamite army travelled 2000 km to Dan, and there were at least eight days of battle.

14:18 And ²²³Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was priest of ²²⁴God Most High.

²²³Whether Melchizedek was an Elamite or a Jebusite (Canaanite) is not stated, but he is apparently the one through whom tribute had been paid.
²²⁴Hb. El Elyon Also in vss. 19, 20, 22.

14:19 And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of God Most High, ²²⁵acquirer of heaven and earth:

²²⁵That is, whether by making or buying and in vs. 22

14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him a tenth of all.
14:21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, give me the souls, and take the goods to thyself.
14:22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lifted up my hand unto Jehovah, God Most High, acquirer of heaven and earth,
14:23 that I will not take a thread nor a shoe-latchet nor aught that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
14:24 ²²⁶save only that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men that went with me, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre; let them take their portion.

²²⁶Or, let there be nothing for me; only that etc.

[Gen 15]
15:1 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, ²²⁷and thy exceeding great reward.

²²⁷Or, thy reward is to be exceeding great.

15:2 And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I ²²⁸go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

²²⁸Or, go hence,

15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
15:4 And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
15:6 And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.
15:7 And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.
15:8 And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?
15:9 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.
15:10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.
15:11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
15:12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.
15:13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
15:14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge; and afterward shall they come out with great substance.
15:15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.
15:16 And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.
15:17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.
15:18 In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from ²²⁹the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

²²⁹Contrasted with the great river (Euphrates), the river of Egypt would be the Wadi el Arish, not the Nile.

15:19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,
15:20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,
15:21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.
[Gen 16]
16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, bare him no children: and she had a handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.
16:2 And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing; go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; it may be that I shall ²³⁰obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.

²³⁰Hb. be builded by her.

16:3 And Sarai, Abram’s wife, ²³¹took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to Abram her husband to be his wife.

²³¹Apparently no earlier than the 4^th month. Compare vs. 16. So Hagar’s flight was not in the winter. If Melchizedek’s blessing was a year earlier, then Sarah’s decision took 8-17 months; if the same year, then < 5 months; if two years earlier, then 20-29 months. 1(^±½) year would seem reasonable.

16:4 And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.
16:5 And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I gave my handmaid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: Jehovah judge between me and ²³²her.

²³²Sopherim changed to thee. See Companion Bible note and Appendix 31.

16:6 But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her that which is good in thine eyes. And Sarai dealt hardly with her, and she fled from her face.
16:7 And the angel of Jehovah found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.
16:8 And he said, Hagar, Sarai’s handmaid, whence camest thou? And whither goest thou? And she said, I am fleeing from the face of my mistress Sarai.
16:9 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands.
16:10 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, I will greatly multiply thy seed, that it shall not be numbered for multitude.
16:11 And the angel of Jehovah said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son; and thou shalt call his name ²³³Ishmael, because Jehovah hath heard thy affliction.

²³³That is, God heareth,

16:12 And he shall be as a wild ass among men; his hand shall be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell ²³⁴over against all his brethren.

²³⁴Or, to the east of

16:13 And she called the name of Jehovah that spake unto her, ²³⁵Thou art ²³⁶a God that seeth: for she said, Have I even here looked after him that seeth me?

²³⁵Or, Thou God seest me:
²³⁶Hb. El roi: that is, God of seeing:

16:14 Wherefore the well was called ²³⁷Beer lahai roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

²³⁷That is, The well of the living one who seeth me;

16:15 And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bare, Ishmael.
16:16 And Abram was eighty-six years old, ²³⁸when Hagar bare Ishmael to Abram.

²³⁸Probably not later than the 9^th month. Cf. vs. 3.

[Gen 17]
17:1 And when Abram was ninety-nine years old, Jehovah appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am ²³⁹God Almighty; walk before me, and be thou perfect.

²³⁹Hb. El Shaddai;

17:2 And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly.
17:3 And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
17:4 As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be the father of a multitude of nations.
17:5 Neither shall thy name any more be called ²⁴⁰Abram, but thy name shall be ²⁴¹Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.

²⁴⁰That is, exalted father,
²⁴¹That is, father of a multitude;

17:6 And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee and to thy seed after thee.
17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land of thy sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
17:9 And God said unto Abraham, And as for thee, thou shalt keep my covenant, thou, and thy seed after thee throughout their generations.
17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee: every male among you shall be circumcised.
17:11 And ye shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of a covenant betwixt me and you.
17:12 And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every male throughout your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any foreigner that is not of thy seed.
17:13 He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.
17:14 And the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.
17:15 And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but ²⁴²Sarah shall her name be.

²⁴²That is, Princess

17:16 And I will bless her, and moreover I will give thee a son of her: yes, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.
17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is a hundred years old? And shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?
17:18 And Abraham said unto God, Oh that Ishmael might live before thee!
17:19 And God said, No, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name ²⁴³Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him.

²⁴³Yitz^achaq. The Hb. word meaning shall laugh:

17:20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.
17:21 But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
17:22 And he left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
17:23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.
17:24 And Abraham was ninety-nine years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
17:25 And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
17:26 In the self-same day was Abraham circumcised, and Ishmael his son.
17:27 And all the men of his house, those born in the house, and those bought with money of a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
[Gen 18]
18:1 And Jehovah appeared unto him by the ²⁴⁴oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the ²⁴⁵heat of the day;

²⁴⁴Or, terebinths
²⁴⁵Or, afternoon (Contrast with ch. 3:8.)

18:2 and he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood over against him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
18:3 and said, ²⁴⁶O Jehovah, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:

²⁴⁶Or, My Jehovah, Sopherim changed to lord,

18:4 let now a little water be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:
18:5 and I will fetch a morsel of bread, and strengthen ye your heart; and after that ye shall pass on: ²⁴⁷forasmuch as ye are come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.

²⁴⁷Or, for therefore

18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes.
18:7 And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto the servant; and he hasted to dress it.
18:8 And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
18:9 And they said unto him, ²⁴⁸Where is Sarah thy wife? But he interrupted and said, Behold, in the tent.

²⁴⁸Or with the Sopherim extraordinary points, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, etc.

18:10 And he said, I will certainly return unto thee when the season ²⁴⁹cometh round; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard in the tent door, which was behind him.

²⁴⁹Hb. liveth; or, reviveth; i.e., Spring And in vs. 14.

18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, and well stricken in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
18:12 And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
18:13 And Jehovah said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I of a surety bear a child, who am old?
18:14 Is anything too ²⁵⁰hard for Jehovah? At the set time I will return unto thee, when the season cometh round, and Sarah shall have a son.

²⁵⁰Or, extraordinary or, wonderful

18:15 Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, No; but thou didst laugh.
18:16 And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.
18:17 And Jehovah said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I do;
18:18 seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
18:19 For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken to him.
18:20 And Jehovah said, ²⁵¹Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous;

²⁵¹Or, Truly (both times).

18:21 I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.
18:22 And the men turned from thence, and went toward Sodom: but ²⁵²Jehovah stood yet before Abraham.

²⁵²Sopherim changed to Abraham stood yet before Jehovah. See Companion Bible note.

18:23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou consume the righteous with the wicked?
18:24 Peradventure there are fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
18:25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked, that so the righteous should be as the wicked; that be far from thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
18:26 And Jehovah said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.
18:27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto ²⁵³Jehovah, who am but dust and ashes:

²⁵³Sopherim changed to the Lord, Also in vss. 30-32.

18:28 peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five.
18:29 And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for the forty’s sake.
18:30 And he said, Oh let not Jehovah be angry, and I will speak: peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there.
18:31 And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto Jehovah: peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.
18:32 And he said, Oh let not Jehovah be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.
18:33 And Jehovah went his way, as soon as he had left off communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
[Gen 19]
19:1 And the two angels came to Sodom in the evening; and Lot ²⁵⁴sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth;

²⁵⁴A high civic office. See Dan 2:49.

19:2 and he said, Behold now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant’s house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your way. And they said, No; but we will abide in the street all night.
19:3 And he urged them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
19:4 But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both young and old, all the people from every quarter;
19:5 and they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men that came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
19:6 And Lot went out unto them to the door, and shut the door after him.
19:7 And he said, I pray you, my brethren, do not so wickedly.
19:8 Behold now, I have two daughters that have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing, ²⁵⁵forasmuch as they are come under the shadow of my roof.

²⁵⁵Or, for therefore they are come etc.

19:9 And they said, Stand back. And they said, This one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee, than with them. And they pressed sore upon the man, even Lot, and drew near to break the door.
19:10 But the men put forth their hand, and brought Lot into the house to them, and shut the door.
19:11 And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
19:12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? Son-in-law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whomsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of the place:
19:13 for we will ²⁵⁶destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxed great before Jehovah; and Jehovah hath sent us to destroy it.

²⁵⁶Only 15 years after Abram had freed the Sodomites.

19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons-in-law, who ²⁵⁷married his daughters, and said, Get up, get you out of this place; for Jehovah will destroy the city. But he seemed unto his sons-in-law as one that mocked.

²⁵⁷Or, were to marry

19:15 And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters that are here, lest thou be consumed in the ²⁵⁸iniquity of the city.

²⁵⁸Or, punishment

19:16 But he lingered; and the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters, Jehovah being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city.
19:17 And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy soul; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the Plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.
19:18 And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, ²⁵⁹O Jehovah:

²⁵⁹Or, my Jehovah: Sopherim changed to lord:

19:19 behold now, thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy lovingkindness, which thou hast showed unto me in saving my soul; but I cannot escape to the mountain, lest ²⁶⁰evil overtake me, and I die:

²⁶⁰Lit. the evil

19:20 behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one. Oh let me escape thither (is it not a little one?), and my soul shall live.
19:21 And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow the city of which thou hast spoken.
19:22 Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do anything till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called ²⁶¹Zoar.

²⁶¹That is, Little. See vs. 20; ch. 14:8.

19:23 The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot came unto Zoar.
19:24 Then Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah ²⁶²brimstone and fire from Jehovah out of heaven;

²⁶²That is, sulfur

19:25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
19:26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
19:27 And Abraham got up early in the morning to the place where he had stood before Jehovah:
19:28 and he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the Plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the land went up as the smoke of a furnace.
19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the Plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot dwelt.
19:30 And Lot went up out of Zoar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zoar: and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters.
19:31 And the first-born said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after the manner of all the earth:
19:32 come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
19:33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the first-born went in, and lay with her father; and he knew not when she lay down; ²⁶³he did know when she arose.

²⁶³Sopherim changed to nor when she arose. According to Companion Bible. Also in vs. 35.

19:34 And it came to pass on the morrow, that the first-born said unto the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
19:35 And they made their father drink wine that night also: and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he knew not when she lay down; he did know when she arose.
19:36 Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father.
19:37 And the first-born bare a son, and called his name ²⁶⁴Moab: the same is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

²⁶⁴That is, Progeny of a father:

19:38 And the younger, she also bare a son, and called his name ²⁶⁵Ben-ammi: the same is the father of the children of Ammon unto this day.

²⁶⁵That is, Son of my people:

[Gen 20]
20:1 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the land of the South, and dwelt between Kadesh and Shur; and he sojourned in Gerar.
20:2 And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah.
20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, because of the woman whom thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife.
20:4 Now Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, ²⁶⁶Jehovah, wilt thou slay even a righteous nation?

²⁶⁶So some Hb. mss. Sopherim changed to Lord,

20:5 Said he not himself unto me, She is my sister? And she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and the innocency of my hands have I done this.
20:6 And God said unto him in the dream, Yes, I know that in the integrity of thy heart thou hast done this, and I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.
20:7 Now therefore restore the man’s wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely begin to die, thou, and all that are thine.
20:8 And Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid.
20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? And wherein have I sinned against thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? Thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
20:10 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
20:11 And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake.
20:12 And moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife:
20:13 and it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt show unto me: at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
20:14 And Abimelech took sheep and oxen, and men-servants and women-servants, and gave them unto Abraham and restored him Sarah his wife.
20:15 And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee.
20:16 And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, ²⁶⁷it is for thee a covering of the eyes to all that are with thee; and ²⁶⁸in respect of all thou art righted.

²⁶⁷Or, he is
²⁶⁸Or, before all men thou art righted.

20:17 And Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants; and they bare children.
20:18 For Jehovah had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.
[Gen 21]
21:1 And Jehovah visited Sarah as he had said, and Jehovah did unto Sarah as he had spoken.
21:2 And Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
21:3 And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
21:4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
21:5 And Abraham was a hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him.
21:6 And Sarah said, God hath ²⁶⁹made me to laugh; every one that heareth will laugh with me.

²⁶⁹Or, prepared laughter for me;

21:7 And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should give children suck? For I have borne him a son in his old age.
21:8 And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.
21:9 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne unto Abraham, ²⁷⁰mocking.

²⁷⁰Or, playing.

21:10 Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this handmaid and her son: for the son of this handmaid shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
21:11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight on account of his son.
21:12 And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy handmaid; in all that Sarah saith unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
21:13 And also of the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a ²⁷¹bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

²⁷¹Or, skin And in vs. 15.

21:15 And the water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs.
21:16 And she went, and sat her down over against him a good way off, as it were a bowshot: for she said, Let me not look upon the death of the child. And she sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept.
21:17 And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
21:18 Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thy hand; for I will make him a great nation.
21:19 And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
21:20 And God was with the lad, and he grew; and he dwelt in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer.
21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt.
21:22 And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest:
21:23 now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with ²⁷²my son, nor with my son’s son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned.

²⁷²Or, my offspring, nor with my posterity:

21:24 And Abraham said, I will swear.
21:25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well of water, which Abimelech’s servants had violently taken away.
21:26 And Abimelech said, I know not who hath done this thing: neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but today.
21:27 And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and they two made a covenant.
21:28 And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves.
21:29 And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves?
21:30 And he said, These seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that it may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well.
21:31 Wherefore he called that place ²⁷³Beersheba; because there they sware both of them.

²⁷³That is, Well of the oath; or possibly, Seven wells;

21:32 So they made a covenant at Beer-sheba: and Abimelech rose up, and Phicol the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines.
21:33 And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beer-sheba, and called there on the name of Jehovah, the Everlasting God.
21:34 And Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.
[Gen 22]
22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham; and he said, Here am I.
22:2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
22:3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he clave the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.
22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder; and we will worship, and come again to you.
22:6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took in his hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.
22:7 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?
22:8 And Abraham said, God will ²⁷⁴provide himself the lamb for a burnt-offering, my son: so they went both of them together.

²⁷⁴Hb. see for himself

22:9 And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built the altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
22:11 And the angel of Jehovah called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I.
22:12 And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.
22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.
22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place ²⁷⁵Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of Jehovah ²⁷⁶it shall be provided.

²⁷⁵That is, Jehovah will see: Or, ...will provide: 4QGen^a reads Elohim-jireh: (So Abegg).
²⁷⁶Or, he shall be seen.

22:15 And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven,
22:16 and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son,
22:17 that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the sea-shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
22:18 and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth ²⁷⁷bless themselves; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

²⁷⁷Reflexive tense, as in ch. 26:4, but not in ch. 12:3.

22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.
22:20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she also hath borne children unto thy brother Nahor:
22:21 Uz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22:22 and Kesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.
22:23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight did Milcah bear to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
22:24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she also bare Tebah, and Gaham, and Tahash, and Maacah.
[Gen 23]
23:1 And the life of Sarah was a hundred twenty-seven years: these were the years of the life of Sarah.
23:2 And Sarah died in Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan: and Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.
23:3 And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spake unto the children of Heth, saying,
23:4 I am a stranger and a sojourner with you: give me a possession of a burying-place with you, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.
23:5 And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto him,
23:6 Hear us, my lord; thou art a prince of God among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.
23:7 And Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, even to the children of Heth.
23:8 And he communed with them, saying, If it be your soul that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me to Ephron the son of Zohar,
23:9 that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he hath, which is in the end of his field; for the full price let him give it to me in the midst of you for a possession of a burying-place.
23:10 Now Ephron was sitting in the midst of the children of Heth: and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of the children of Heth, even of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,
23:11 No, my lord, hear me: the field give I thee, and the cave that is therein, I give it thee; in the presence of the children of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.
23:12 And Abraham bowed himself down before the people of the land.
23:13 And he spake unto Ephron in the audience of the people of the land, saying, But if thou wilt, I pray thee, hear me: I will give the price of the field; take it of me, and I will bury my dead there.
23:14 And Ephron answered Abraham, saying unto him,
23:15 My lord, hearken unto me: a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that betwixt me and thee? Bury therefore thy dead.
23:16 And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver which he had named in the audience of the children of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.
23:17 So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave which was therein, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all the border thereof round about, were made sure
23:18 unto Abraham for a possession in the presence of the children of Heth, before all that went in at the gate of his city.
23:19 And after this Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre (the same is Hebron), in the land of Canaan.
23:20 And the field, and the cave that is therein, were made sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying-place by the children of Heth.
[Gen 24]
24:1 And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and Jehovah had blessed Abraham in all things.
24:2 And Abraham said unto his servant, the elder of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh:
24:3 and I will make thee swear by Jehovah, the God of heavens and the God of the earth, that thou wilt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:
24:4 but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac.
24:5 And the servant said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land: must I needs bring thy son again unto the land from whence thou camest?
24:6 And Abraham said unto him, Beware thou that thou bring not my son thither again.
24:7 Jehovah, the God of heavens, who took me from my father’s house, and from the land of my nativity, and who spake unto me, and who sware unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he will send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife for my son from thence.
24:8 And if the woman be not willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be clear from this my oath; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again.
24:9 And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him concerning this matter.
24:10 And the servant took ten camels, of the camels of his master, and departed, ²⁷⁸having all goodly things of his master’s in his hand: and he arose, and went to ²⁷⁹Mesopotamia, unto the city of Nahor.

²⁷⁸Or, for all the goods of his master were in his hand:
²⁷⁹Hb. Aram-naharaim, that is, Aram of the 2 rivers,

24:11 And he made the camels to kneel down without the city by the well of water at the time of evening, the time that women go out to draw water.
24:12 And he said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, send me, I pray thee, good speed this day, and show kindness unto my master Abraham.
24:13 Behold, I am standing by the fountain of water; and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water:
24:14 and let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast showed kindness unto my master.
24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the fountain, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
24:17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Give me to drink, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher.
24:18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
24:19 And when she had done giving him drink, she said, I will draw for thy camels also, until they have done drinking.
24:20 And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw, and drew for all his camels.
24:21 And the man looked stedfastly on her, holding his peace, to know whether Jehovah had made his journey prosperous or not.
24:22 And it came to pass, as the camels had done drinking, that the man took a golden ring of ²⁸⁰half a shekel weight, and two bracelets for her hands of ten shekels weight of gold,

²⁸⁰Hb. a beka See Ex 38:26.

24:23 and said, Whose daughter art thou? Tell me, I pray thee. Is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in?
24:24 And she said unto him, I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom she bare unto Nahor.
24:25 She said moreover unto him, We have both straw and provender enough, and room to lodge in.
24:26 And the man bowed his head, and worshipped Jehovah.
24:27 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who hath not forsaken his lovingkindness and his truth toward my master: as for me, Jehovah hath led me in the way to the house of my master’s brethren.
24:28 And the damsel ran, and told her mother’s house according to these words.
24:29 And Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban: and Laban ran out unto the man, unto the fountain.
24:30 And it came to pass, when he saw the ring, and the bracelets upon his sister’s hands, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, Thus spake the man unto me; that he came unto the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the fountain.
24:31 And he said, Come in, thou blessed of Jehovah; wherefore standest thou without? For I have prepared the house, and room for the camels.
24:32 And the man came into the house, and he ungirded the camels; and he gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men that were with him.
24:33 And there was set food before him to eat: but he said, I will not eat, until I have told mine errand. And he said, Speak on.
24:34 And he said, I am Abraham’s servant.
24:35 And Jehovah hath blessed my master greatly; and he is become great: and he hath given him flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and men-servants and maid-servants, and camels and asses.
24:36 And Sarah my master’s wife bare a son to my master when she was old: and unto him hath he given all that he hath.
24:37 And my master made me swear, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife for my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I dwell:
24:38 but thou shalt go unto my father’s house, and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son.
24:39 And I said unto my master, Peradventure the woman will not follow me.
24:40 And he said unto me, Jehovah, before whom I walk, will send his angel with thee, and prosper thy way; and thou shalt take a wife for my son of my kindred, and of my father’s house:
24:41 then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
24:42 And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, if now thou do prosper my way which I go:
24:43 behold, I am standing by the fountain of water; and let it come to pass, that the maiden that cometh forth to draw, to whom I shall say, give me, I pray thee, a little water from thy pitcher to drink;
24:44 and she shall say to me, Both drink thou, and I will also draw for thy camels: let the same be the woman whom Jehovah hath appointed for my master’s son.
24:45 And before I had done speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came forth with her pitcher on her shoulder; and she went down unto the fountain, and drew: and I said unto her, Let me drink, I pray thee.
24:46 And she made haste, and let down her pitcher from her shoulder, and said, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: so I drank, and she made the camels drink also.
24:47 And I asked her, and said, Whose daughter art thou? And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bare unto him: and I put the ring upon her nose, and the bracelets upon her hands.
24:48 And I bowed my head and worshipped Jehovah, and blessed Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me in the right way to take my master’s brother’s daughter for his son.
24:49 And now if ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me: and if not, tell me; that I may turn to the right hand, or to the left.
24:50 Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from Jehovah: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.
24:51 Behold, Rebekah is before thee, take her, and go, and let her be thy master’s son’s wife, as Jehovah hath spoken.
24:52 And it came to pass, that, when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed himself down to the earth unto Jehovah.
24:53 And the servant brought forth jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment, and gave them to Rebekah: he gave also to her brother and to her mother precious things.
24:54 And they did eat and drink, he and the men that were with him, and tarried all night; and they rose up in the morning, and he said, Send me away unto my master.
24:55 And her brother and her mother said, Let the damsel abide with us a few days, at the least ten; after that she shall go.
24:56 And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing Jehovah hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.
24:57 And they said, We will call the damsel, and inquire at her mouth.
24:58 And they called Rebekah, and said unto her, Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go.
24:59 And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.
24:60 And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let thy seed possess the gate of those that hate them.
24:61 And Rebekah arose, and her damsels, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man: and the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.
24:62 And Isaac came from the way of Beer-lahai-roi; for he dwelt in the land of the South.
24:63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, there were camels coming.
24:64 And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she alighted from the camel.
24:65 And she said unto the servant, What man is this that walketh in the field to meet us? And the servant said, It is my master: and she took the veil, and covered herself.
24:66 And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done.
24:67 And Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.
[Gen 25]
25:1 And Abraham took another wife, and her name was Keturah.
25:2 And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
25:3 And Jokshan begat Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Assurim, and Letushim, and Leummim.
25:4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abida, and El-daah. All these were the children of Keturah.
25:5 And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac.
25:6 But unto the sons of the concubines, that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.
25:7 And these are the days of the years of Abraham’s life which he lived, a hundred seventy-five years.
25:8 And Abraham gave up the breath, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
25:9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is before Mamre;
25:10 the field which Abraham purchased of the children of Heth: there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.
25:11 And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son: and Isaac dwelt by Beer-lahai-roi.
25:12 Now these are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, bare unto Abraham:
25:13 and these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
25:14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa,
25:15 Hadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah:
25:16 these are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their nations.
25:17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred thirty-seven years: and he gave up the breath and died, and was gathered unto his people.
25:18 And they dwelt from Havilah unto Shur that is before Egypt, as thou goest toward Assyria: he ²⁸¹abode over against all his brethren.

²⁸¹Or, settled Hb. fell

25:19 And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:
25:20 and Isaac was forty years old ²⁸²when he took Rebekah the daughter of Bethuel the ²⁸³Syrian of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian, to be his wife.

²⁸²Apparently 3 years after the death of his mother.
²⁸³Hb. Aramean (both times). And so elsewhere.

25:21 And Isaac entreated Jehovah for his wife, because she was barren: and Jehovah was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived,
25:22 And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, ²⁸⁴wherefore do I live? And she went to inquire of Jehovah.

²⁸⁴Or, wherefore am I thus?

25:23 And Jehovah said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, And two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels: And the one people shall be stronger than the other people; And the elder shall serve the younger.
25:24 And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
25:25 And the first came forth ²⁸⁵red all over like a hairy garment; and they called his name Esau.

²⁸⁵Or, ruddy

25:26 And after that came forth his brother, and his hand had hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called ²⁸⁶Jacob: and Isaac was sixty years old when she bare them.

²⁸⁶That is, He shall take by the heel: or, …supplant:

25:27 And the boys grew: and Esau was a skilful hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a ²⁸⁷quiet man, dwelling in tents.

²⁸⁷Or, harmless Hb. perfect (as a perfect gentleman)

25:28 Now Isaac loved Esau, because he did eat of his venison: and Rebekah loved Jacob.
25:29 And Jacob boiled pottage: and Esau came in from the field, and he was faint:
25:30 and Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray thee, with ²⁸⁸that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his name called ²⁸⁹Edom.

²⁸⁸Hb. the red pottage. or, this red pottage.
²⁸⁹That is, Red.

25:31 And Jacob said, Sell me ²⁹⁰first thy birthright.

²⁹⁰Hb. today And in vs. 33.

25:32 And Esau said, Behold, I am about to die: and what profit shall the birthright do to me?
25:33 And Jacob said, Swear to me first; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob.
25:34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: so Esau despised the birthright.
[Gen 26]
26:1 And there was a famine in the land, besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac ²⁹¹went unto Abimelech king of the Philistines, unto Gerar.

²⁹¹If drought was the cause of famine in the South, then it would likely be less severe going towards Gerar, nearer the coast.

26:2 And Jehovah appeared unto him, and said, Go not down into Egypt; dwell in the land which I shall tell thee of:
26:3 sojourn in this land, and I will be with thee, and will bless thee; for unto thee, and unto thy seed, I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath which I sware unto Abraham thy father;
26:4 and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these lands; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves;
26:5 because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
26:6 And Isaac dwelt in Gerar:
26:7 and the men of the place asked him of his wife; and he said, ²⁹²She is my sister: for he feared to say, My wife; lest, said he, the men of the place should kill me for Rebekah; because she was fair to look upon.

²⁹²She was his first cousin once removed. Ge 24:24.

26:8 And it came to pass when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at the window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife.
26:9 And Abimelech called Isaac, and said, Behold, of a surety she is thy wife: and how saidst thou, She is my sister? And Isaac said unto him, Because I said, Lest I die because of her.
26:10 And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? One of the people might easily have lain with thy wife, and thou wouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
26:11 And Abimelech charged all the people, saying, He that toucheth this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.
26:12 And Isaac sowed in that land, and found in the same year a hundredfold: and Jehovah blessed him.
26:13 And the man waxed great, and grew more and more until he became very great:
26:14 and he had possessions of flocks, and possessions of herds, and a great household: and the Philistines envied him.
26:15 Now all the wells which his father’s servants had digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped, and filled with earth.
26:16 And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for thou art much mightier than we.
26:17 And Isaac departed thence, and encamped in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there.
26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them.
26:19 And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of ²⁹³springing water.

²⁹³Hb. living water.

26:20 And the herdsmen of Gerar strove with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well ²⁹⁴Esek, because they contended with him.

²⁹⁴That is, Contention,

26:21 And they digged another well, and they strove for that also: and he called the name of it ²⁹⁵Sitnah.

²⁹⁵That is, Enmity. (Cf. satan, attacker, adversary.)

26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it ²⁹⁶Rehoboth; and he said, For now Jehovah hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

²⁹⁶That is, Broad places; or, Room;

26:23 And he went up from thence to Beer-sheba.
26:24 And Jehovah appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for my servant Abraham’s sake.
26:25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac’s servants digged a well.
26:26 Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath his friend, and Phicol the captain of his host.
26:27 And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore are ye come unto me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
26:28 And they said, We saw plainly that Jehovah was with thee: and we said, Let there now be an oath betwixt us, even betwixt us and thee, and let us make a covenant with thee,
26:29 that thou wilt do us no hurt, as we have not touched thee, and as we have done unto thee nothing but good, and have sent thee away in peace: thou art now the blessed of Jehovah.
26:30 And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink.
26:31 And they rose up betimes in the morning, and sware one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
26:32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac’s servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
26:33 And he called it ²⁹⁷Shibah: therefore the name of the city is Beer-²⁹⁸sheba unto this day.

²⁹⁷That is, Seven: or if differently pointed, Oath:
²⁹⁸See footnote on ch. 21:31.

26:34 And when Esau was forty years old he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
26:35 and they were ²⁹⁹a grief of mind unto Isaac and to Rebekah.

²⁹⁹Hb. a bitterness of spirit unto

[Gen 27]
27:1 And it came to pass, that when Isaac was old, and his eyes were dim, so that he could not see, he called Esau his elder son, and said unto him, My son: and he said unto him, Here am I.
27:2 And he said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death.
27:3 Now therefore take, I pray thee, thy weapons, thy quiver and thy bow, and go out to the field, and take me venison;
27:4 and make me savory food, such as I love, and bring it to me, that I may eat; that my soul may bless thee before I die.
27:5 And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
27:6 And Rebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, saying,
27:7 Bring me venison, and make me savory food, that I may eat, and bless thee before Jehovah before my death.
27:8 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee.
27:9 Go now to the flock, and fetch me from thence two good kids of the goats; and I will make them savory food for thy father, such as he loveth:
27:10 and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that he may eat, so that he may bless thee before his death.
27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.
27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a ³⁰⁰deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.

³⁰⁰Or, mocker;

27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son; only obey my voice, and go fetch me them.
27:14 And he went, and fetched, and brought them to his mother: and his mother made savory food, such as his father loved.
27:15 And Rebekah took the goodly garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them upon Jacob her younger son;
27:16 and she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
27:17 and she gave the savory food and the bread, which she had prepared, into the hand of her son Jacob.
27:18 And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?
27:19 And Jacob said unto his father, I am Esau thy firstborn; I have done according as thou badest me: arise, I pray thee, sit and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me.
27:20 And Isaac said unto his son, How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah thy God ³⁰¹sent me good speed.

³⁰¹Or, made it come to me.

27:21 And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not.
27:22 And Jacob went near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
27:23 And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: so he blessed him.
27:24 And he said, Art thou my very son Esau? And he said, I am.
27:25 And he said, Bring it near to me, and I will eat of my son’s venison, that my soul may bless thee. And he brought it near to him, and he did eat: and he brought him wine, and he drank.
27:26 And his father Isaac said unto him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.
27:27 And he came near, and kissed him: and he smelled the smell of his raiment, and blessed him, and said, See, the smell of my son Is as the smell of a field which Jehovah hath blessed:
27:28 And God give thee of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and new wine:
27:29 Let peoples serve thee, And nations bow down to thee: Be lord over thy brethren, And let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: Cursed be every one that curseth thee! And blessed be every one that blesseth thee!
27:30 And it came to pass, as soon as Isaac had made an end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob was yet scarce gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.
27:31 And he also made savory food, and brought it unto his father; and he said unto his father, Let my father arise, and eat of his son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me.
27:32 And Isaac his father said unto him, Who art thou? And he said, I am thy son, thy firstborn, Esau.
27:33 And Isaac trembled very exceedingly, and said, Who then is he that hath taken venison, and brought it me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.
27:34 When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with an exceeding great and bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.
27:35 And he said, Thy brother came with guile, and hath taken away thy blessing.
27:36 And he said, Is not he rightly named Jacob? for he hath supplanted me these two times: he took away my birthright; and, behold, now he hath taken away my blessing. And he said, Hast thou not reserved a blessing for me?
27:37 And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with grain and new wine have I sustained him: and what then shall I do for thee, my son?
27:38 And Esau said unto his father, Hast thou but one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father. And Esau lifted up his voice, and wept.
27:39 And Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, ³⁰²of the fatness of the earth shall be thy dwelling, And of the dew of the heavens from above;

³⁰²Or possibly, away from (both times) And in vs 28.

27:40 And by thy sword shalt thou live, and thou shalt serve thy brother; And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt break loose, That thou shalt shake his yoke from off thy neck.
27:41 And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob.
27:42 And the words of Esau her elder son were told to Rebekah; and she sent and called Jacob her younger son, and said unto him, Behold, thy brother Esau, as touching thee, doth comfort himself, purposing to kill thee.
27:43 Now therefore, my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee thou to Laban my brother to Haran;
27:44 and tarry with him a few days, until thy brother’s fury turn away;
27:45 until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee, and he forget that which thou hast done to him: then I will send, and fetch thee from thence: why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?
27:46 And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these, of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?
[Gen 28]
28:1 And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
28:2 Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother’s father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughters of Laban thy mother’s brother.
28:3 And ³⁰³God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a company of peoples;

³⁰³Hb. El Shaddai

28:4 and give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land of thy sojournings, which God gave unto Abraham.
28:5 And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Paddan-aram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the ³⁰⁴Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob’s and Esau’s mother.

³⁰⁴Hb. Aramean,

28:6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan;
28:7 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan-aram:
28:8 and Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
28:9 and Esau went unto Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.
28:10 And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran.
28:11 And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.
28:12 And he dreamed; and, behold, a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and, behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.
28:13 And, behold, Jehovah stood ³⁰⁵above it, and said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;

³⁰⁵Or, over him, or, beside him,

28:14 and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt ³⁰⁶spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the ground be blessed.

³⁰⁶Hb. break forth to the west,

28:15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee again to this ground; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
28:16 And Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, Surely Jehovah is in this place; and I knew it not.
28:17 And he was afraid, and said, How awesome is this place! this is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of the heavens.
28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
28:19 And he called the name of that place ³⁰⁷Bethel: but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

³⁰⁷That is, the house of God:

28:20 And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
28:21 so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, ³⁰⁸and Jehovah will be my God,

³⁰⁸Or, then shall Jehovah be my God, and this stone,

28:22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give a tenth unto thee.
[Gen 29]
29:1 Then Jacob ³⁰⁹went on his journey, and came to the land of the ³¹⁰sons of the east.

³⁰⁹Hb. lifted up his feet,
³¹⁰Or perhaps, Arabs. Cf. ch. 25:6.

29:2 And he looked, and, behold, a well in the field, and, lo, three flocks of sheep lying there by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks: and the stone upon the well’s mouth was great.
29:3 And thither were all the flocks gathered: and they rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the sheep, and put the stone again upon the well’s mouth in its place.
29:4 And Jacob said unto them, My brethren, whence are ye? And they said, Of Haran are we.
29:5 And he said unto them, Know ye Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We know him.
29:6 And he said unto them, Is it well with him? And they said, It is well: and, behold, Rachel his daughter cometh with the sheep.
29:7 And he said, Lo, it is yet high day, neither is it time that the cattle should be gathered together: water ye the sheep, and go and feed them.
29:8 And they said, We cannot, until all the flocks be gathered together, and they roll the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.
29:9 While he was yet speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep; for she kept them.
29:10 And it came to pass, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob went near, and rolled the stone from the well’s mouth, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
29:11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice, and wept.
29:12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son: and she ran and told her father.
29:13 And it came to pass, when Laban heard the tidings of Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
29:14 And Laban said to him, Surely ³¹¹thou art my bone and my flesh. And he abode with him the space of a month.

³¹¹This expression is readily understandable today, in that DNA is found in both flesh and bones.

29:15 And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? Tell me, what shall thy wages be?
29:16 And Laban had ³¹²two daughters: the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.

³¹²It is not stated whether his sons had yet been born.

29:17 And Leah’s eyes were tender; but Rachel was beautiful and well-favored.
29:18 And Jacob loved Rachel; and he said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.
29:19 And Laban said, It is better that I give her to thee, than that I should give her to another man: abide with me.
29:20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed unto him but a few days, for the love he had to her.
29:21 And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
29:22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.
29:23 And it came to pass in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter, and brought her to him; and he went in unto her.
29:24 And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid unto his daughter Leah for a handmaid.
29:25 And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did I not serve thee for Rachel? wherefore then hast thou beguiled me?
29:26 And Laban said, ³¹³It is not so done in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.

³¹³There is a similar custom today among men in India.

29:27 Fulfil the week of this one, and we will give thee the other also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
29:28 And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week: and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife.
29:29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his handmaid to be her handmaid.
29:30 And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.
29:31 And Jehovah saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb: but Rachel was barren.
29:32 And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name ³¹⁴Reuben: for she said, Because Jehovah hath looked upon my affliction; for now my husband will love me.

³¹⁴That is, See, a son:

29:33 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and said, Because Jehovah ³¹⁵hath heard that I am hated, he hath therefore given me this son also: and she called his name ³¹⁶Simeon.

³¹⁵Hb. shama
³¹⁶Hb. Shimeon.

29:34 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and said, Now this time will my husband be ³¹⁷joined unto me, because I have borne him three sons: therefore was his name called Levi.

³¹⁷From the root lavah

29:35 And she conceived again, and bare a son: and she said, This time will I ³¹⁸praise Jehovah: therefore she called his name ³¹⁹Judah; and she left off bearing.

³¹⁸From the Hb. hodah
³¹⁹Hb. Jehudah;

[Gen 30]
30:1 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and she said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.
30:2 And Jacob’s anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb?
30:3 And she said, Behold, my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; that she may bear upon my knees, and I also may ³²⁰obtain children by her.

³²⁰Hb. be builded by her.

30:4 And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to ³²¹wife: and Jacob went in unto her.

³²¹See ch. 16:3 and its footnote.

30:5 And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.
30:6 And Rachel said, God hath ³²²judged me, and hath also heard my voice, and hath given me a son: therefore called she his name Dan.

³²²Hb. dan, he judged

30:7 And Bilhah Rachel’s handmaid conceived again, and bare Jacob a second son.
30:8 And Rachel said, With ³²³mighty wrestlings have I ³²⁴wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed: and she called his name Naphtali.

³²³Hb. wrestlings of God
³²⁴Hb. niphtal, he wrestled

30:9 When Leah saw that she had left off bearing, she took Zilpah her handmaid, and gave her to Jacob to wife.
30:10 And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bare Jacob a son.
30:11 And Leah said, ³²⁵Fortunate! and she called his name ³²⁶Gad.

³²⁵So Hb^txt Sept. Vg. Lit. With fortune! Hb^mg Aram. read Fortune is come.
³²⁶That is, Fortune.

30:12 And Zilpah Leah’s handmaid bare Jacob a second son.
30:13 And Leah said, ³²⁷Happy am I! for the daughters will call me happy: and she called his name ³²⁸Asher.

³²⁷Hb. With my happiness!
³²⁸That is, Happy.

30:14 And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found ³²⁹mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.

³²⁹Or, love apples (both times) And in vss. 15, 16.

30:15 And she said unto her, Is it a small matter that thou hast taken away my husband? and wouldest thou take away my son’s mandrakes also? And Rachel said, Therefore he shall lie with thee tonight for thy son’s mandrakes.
30:16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, Thou must come in unto me, for I have surely hired thee with my son’s mandrakes. And he lay with her that night.
30:17 And God hearkened unto Leah, and she conceived, and bare Jacob a fifth son.
30:18 And Leah said, God hath given me my ³³⁰hire, because I gave my handmaid to my husband: and she called his name Issachar.

³³⁰Hb. sachar,

30:19 And Leah conceived again, and bare a sixth son to Jacob.
30:20 And Leah said, God hath endowed me with a good dowry; now will my husband ³³¹dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

³³¹Hb. zabal, he dwelt

30:21 And afterwards she bare a daughter, and called her name Dinah.
30:22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
30:23 And she conceived, and bare a son: and said, God hath taken away my reproach:
30:24 and she called his name Joseph, saying, Jehovah ³³²add to me another son.

³³²Hb. yoseph

30:25 And it came to pass, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said unto Laban, Send me away, that I may go unto mine own place, and to my country.
30:26 Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served thee, and let me go: for thou knowest my service wherewith I have served thee.
30:27 And Laban said unto him, If now I have found favor in thine eyes, tarry: for I have divined that Jehovah hath blessed me for thy sake.
30:28 And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.
30:29 And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle have fared with me.
30:30 For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it hath ³³³increased unto a multitude; and Jehovah hath blessed thee ³³⁴whithersoever I turned: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?

³³³Hb. broken forth
³³⁴Hb. at my foot:

30:31 And he said, What shall I give thee? And Jacob said, Thou shalt not give me aught: if thou wilt do this thing for me, I will again feed thy flock and keep it.
30:32 I will pass through all thy flock today, removing from thence every speckled and spotted one, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats: and of such shall be my hire.
30:33 So shall my righteousness answer for me hereafter, when thou shalt come concerning my hire that is before thee: every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, that, if found with me, shall be counted stolen.
30:34 And Laban said, Behold, I would it might be according to thy word.
30:35 And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons;
30:36 and he set three days’ journey betwixt himself and Jacob: and Jacob fed the rest of Laban’s flocks.
30:37 And Jacob took him rods of fresh ³³⁵poplar, and of the almond and of the plane-tree; and peeled white streaks in them, and made the white appear which was in the rods.

³³⁵Or, storax tree,

30:38 And he set the rods which he had peeled over against the flocks in the gutters in the watering-troughs where the flocks came to drink; and they conceived when they came to drink.
30:39 And the flocks conceived before the rods, and the flocks brought forth ringstreaked, speckled, and spotted.
30:40 And Jacob separated the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ringstreaked and all the black in the flock of Laban: and he put his own droves apart, and put them not unto Laban’s flock.
30:41 And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger of the flock did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the flock in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods;
30:42 but when the flock were feeble, he put them not in: so the feebler were Laban’s and the stronger Jacob’s.
30:43 And the man increased exceedingly, and had large flocks, and maid-servants and men-servants, and camels and asses.
[Gen 31]
31:1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob hath taken away all that was our father’s; and of that which was our father’s hath he gotten all this ³³⁶glory.

³³⁶Or, wealth.

31:2 And Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, it was not toward him as beforetime.
31:3 And Jehovah said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.
31:4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field unto his flock,
31:5 and said unto them, I see your father’s countenance, that it is not toward me as beforetime; but the God of my father hath been with me.
31:6 And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.
31:7 And your father hath deceived me, and changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.
31:8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages; then all the flock bare speckled: and if he said thus, The ringstreaked shall be thy wages; then bare all the flock ringstreaked.
31:9 Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, and given them to me.
31:10 And it came to pass at the time that the flock conceive, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the he-goats which leaped upon the flock were ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled.
31:11 And the angel of God said unto me in the dream, Jacob: and I said, Here am I.
31:12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the he-goats which leap upon the flock are ringstreaked, speckled, and grizzled: for I have seen all that Laban doeth unto thee.
31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy nativity.
31:14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said unto him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?
31:15 Are we not accounted by him as foreigners? for he hath sold us, and hath also quite devoured ³³⁷our money.

³³⁷Or, the price paid for us.

31:16 For all the riches which God hath taken away from our father, that is ours and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.
31:17 Then Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon the camels;
31:18 and he carried away all his cattle, and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle of his getting, which he had gathered in Paddan-aram, to go to Isaac his father unto the land of Canaan.
31:19 Now Laban was gone to shear his sheep: and Rachel stole the teraphim that were her father’s.
31:20 And Jacob ³³⁸stole away unawares to Laban the Syrian, in that he told him not that he fled.

³³⁸Hb. stole the heart of Laban the Aramean,

31:21 So he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and passed over ³³⁹the River, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

³³⁹That is, the Euphrates,

31:22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob was fled.
31:23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days’ journey; and he overtook him in the mountain of Gilead.
31:24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream of the night, and said unto him, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
31:25 And Laban came up with Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the mountain: and Laban with his brethren encamped in the mountain of Gilead.
31:26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters as captives of the sword?
31:27 Wherefore didst thou flee secretly, and ³⁴⁰steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have sent thee away with mirth and with songs, with tabret and with harp;

³⁴⁰Hb. didst steal me,

31:28 and didst not suffer me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now hast thou done foolishly.
31:29 It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
31:30 And now, though thou wouldest needs be gone, because thou sore longedst after thy father’s house, yet wherefore hast thou stolen my ³⁴¹gods?

³⁴¹Hb. elohim Also in vs. 32.

31:31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Lest thou shouldest take thy daughters from me by force.
31:32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live: before our brethren discern thou what is thine with me, and take it to thee. For Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.
31:33 And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.
31:34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, and put them in the camel’s saddle, and sat upon them. And Laban felt about all the tent, but found them not.
31:35 And she said to her father, Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise up before thee; for the manner of women is upon me. And he searched, but found not the teraphim.
31:36 And Jacob was wroth, and chode with Laban: and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my trespass? what is my sin, that thou hast hotly pursued after me?
31:37 Whereas thou hast felt about all my stuff, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set it here before my brethren and thy brethren, that they may judge betwixt us two.
31:38 These twenty years have I been with thee; thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flocks have I not eaten.
31:39 That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.
31:40 Thus I was; in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes.
31:41 These twenty years have I been in thy house; I served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock: and thou hast changed my wages ten times.
31:42 Except the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Awe of Isaac, had been with me, surely now hadst thou sent me away empty. God hath seen mine affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked thee yesternight.
31:43 And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, the daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne?
31:44 And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
31:45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar.
31:46 And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they did eat there by the heap.
31:47 And Laban called it ³⁴²Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it ³⁴³Galeed.

³⁴²That is, The heap of witness: in Aramaic.
³⁴³That is, The heap of witness: in Hebrew.

31:48 And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed:
31:49 and ³⁴⁴Mizpah, for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are ³⁴⁵absent one from another.

³⁴⁴That is, The watch tower,
³⁴⁵Hb. hidden

31:50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
31:51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set betwixt me and thee.
31:52 This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm.
31:53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the ³⁴⁶God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the Awe of his father Isaac.

³⁴⁶Or, gods

31:54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain.
31:55 And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.
[Gen 32]
32:1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
32:2 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place ³⁴⁷Mahanaim.

³⁴⁷That is, Two hosts. or, Companies.

32:3 And Jacob sent messengers before him to Esau his brother unto the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
32:4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall ye say unto my lord Esau: Thus saith thy servant Jacob, I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now:
32:5 and I have oxen, and asses, and flocks, and men-servants, and maid-servants: and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in thy sight.
32:6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother Esau, and moreover he cometh to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.
32:7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed: and he divided the people that were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two companies;
32:8 and he said, If Esau come to the one company, and smite it, then the company which is left shall escape.
32:9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will do thee good:
32:10 ³⁴⁸I am not worthy of the least of all the lovingkindnesses, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two companies.

³⁴⁸Hb. I am less than all the lovingkindnesses,

32:11 Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother with the children.
32:12 And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.
32:13 And he lodged there that night, and took of that which he had with him a present for Esau his brother:
32:14 two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
32:15 thirty milch camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals.
32:16 And he delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said unto his servants, Pass over before me, and put a space betwixt drove and drove.
32:17 And he commanded the foremost, saying, When Esau my brother meeteth thee, and asketh thee, saying, Whose art thou? and whither goest thou? and whose are these before thee?
32:18 then thou shalt say, They are thy servant Jacob’s; it is a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, he also is behind us.
32:19 And he commanded also the second, and the third, and all that followed the droves, saying, On this manner shall ye speak unto Esau, when ye find him;
32:20 and ye shall say, Moreover, behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept me.
32:21 So the present passed over before him: and he himself lodged that night in the company.
32:22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two handmaids, and his eleven ³⁴⁹children, and passed over the ford of the Jabbok.

³⁴⁹Or, sons,

32:23 And he took them, and sent them over the stream, and sent over that which he had.
32:24 And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day.
32:25 And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled with him.
32:26 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.
32:27 And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.
32:28 And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but ³⁵⁰Israel: for thou hast ³⁵¹striven with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

³⁵⁰That is, He who striveth with God: or, God striveth:
³⁵¹Or, had power with

32:29 And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.
32:30 And Jacob called the name of the place ³⁵²Peniel: for, said he, I have seen God face to face, and my soul is preserved.

³⁵²That is, The face of God:

32:31 And the sun rose upon him as he passed over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.
32:32 Therefore the children of Israel eat not the sinew of the hip which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.
[Gen 33]
33:1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two handmaids.
33:2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.
33:3 And he himself passed over before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
33:4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck,³⁵³ and they wept.

³⁵³Sopherim added and kissed him: See Companion Bible note on this verse.

33:5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these with thee? And he said, The children whom God hath graciously given thy servant.
33:6 Then the handmaids came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.
33:7 And Leah also and her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.
33:8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this company which I met? And he said, To find favor in the sight of my lord.
33:9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; let that which thou hast be thine.
33:10 And Jacob said, No, I pray thee, if now I have found favor in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand; ³⁵⁴forasmuch as I have seen thy face, as one seeth the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.

³⁵⁴Or, for therefore have I seen

33:11 Take, I pray thee, my ³⁵⁵gift that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have ³⁵⁶enough. And he urged him, and he took it.

³⁵⁵Hb. blessing
³⁵⁶Hb. all.

33:12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.
33:13 And he said unto him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and that the flocks and herds with me have their young: and if they overdrive them one day, all the flocks will die.
33:14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on gently, according to the pace of the cattle that are before me and according to the pace of the children, until I come unto my lord unto Seir.
33:15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the folk that are with me. And he said, What needeth it? let me find favor in the sight of my lord.
33:16 So Esau returned that day on his way unto Seir.
33:17 And Jacob journeyed to Sukkoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called ³⁵⁷Sukkoth.

³⁵⁷That is, Booths.

33:18 And Jacob came ³⁵⁸in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram; and encamped before the city.

³⁵⁸Or, to Shalem, a city

33:19 And he bought the parcel of ground, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred ³⁵⁹pieces of money.

³⁵⁹Hb. q’sitah Elsewhere only in Josh 24:32, Job 42:11

33:20 And he erected there an altar, and called it ³⁶⁰El-Elohe-Israel.

³⁶⁰That is, God, the God of Israel.

[Gen 34]
34:1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
34:2 And Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her; and he took her, and lay with her, and humbled her.
34:3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake ³⁶¹kindly unto the damsel.

³⁶¹Hb. to the heart of the damsel.

34:4 And Shechem spake unto his father Hamor, saying, Get me this damsel to wife.
34:5 Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they came.
34:6 And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him.
34:7 And the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob’s daughter; which thing ought not to be done.
34:8 And Hamor communed with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longeth for your daughter: I pray you, give her unto him to wife.
34:9 And make ye marriages with us; give your daughters unto us, and take our daughters unto you.
34:10 And ye shall dwell with us: and the land shall be before you; dwell and trade ye therein, and get you possessions therein.
34:11 And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find favor in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give.
34:12 Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife.
34:13 And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with guile, and spake, because he had defiled Dinah their sister,
34:14 and said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us.
34:15 Only on this condition will we consent unto you: if ye will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised;
34:16 then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
34:17 But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone.
34:18 And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor’s son.
34:19 And the young man deferred not to do the thing, because he had delight in Jacob’s daughter: and he was honored above all the house of his father.
34:20 And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
34:21 These men are peaceable with us; therefore let them dwell in the land, and trade therein; for, behold, the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters to us for wives, and let us give them our daughters.
34:22 Only on this condition will the men consent unto us to dwell with us, to become one people, if every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.
34:23 Shall not their cattle and their substance and all their beasts be ours? only let us consent unto them, and they will dwell with us.
34:24 And unto Hamor and unto Shechem his son hearkened all that went out of the gate of his city; and every male was circumcised, all that went out of the gate of his city.
34:25 And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city ³⁶²unawares, and slew all the males.

³⁶²Or, boldly,

34:26 And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem’s house, and went forth.
34:27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
34:28 They took their flocks and their herds and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field;
34:29 and all their wealth, and all their little ones and their wives, took they captive and made a prey, even all that was in the house.
34:30 And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
34:31 And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with a harlot?
[Gen 35]
35:1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
35:2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:
35:3 and let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
35:4 And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the ³⁶³oak which was by Shechem.

³⁶³Or, terebinth Also in vs. 8.

35:5 And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
35:6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Bethel), he and all the people that were with him.
35:7 And he built there an altar, and called the place ³⁶⁴El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

³⁶⁴That is, the God of the house of God;

35:8 And Deborah Rebekah’s nurse died, and she was buried below Bethel under the oak: and the name of it was called ³⁶⁵Allon-bacuth.

³⁶⁵That is, The oak of weeping.

35:9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.
35:10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.
35:11 And God said unto him, I am ³⁶⁶God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

³⁶⁶Hb. El Shaddai:

35:12 and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.
35:13 And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him.
35:14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.
35:15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.
35:16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.
35:17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son.
35:18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name ³⁶⁷Ben-oni: but his father called him ³⁶⁸Benjamin.

³⁶⁷That is, The son of my sorrow:
³⁶⁸That is, The son of the right hand.

35:19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).
35:20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave unto this day.
35:21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
35:22 And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine: and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
35:23 the sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun;
35:24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;
35:25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s handmaid: Dan and Naphtali;
35:26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram.
35:27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
35:28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred eighty years.
35:29 And Isaac gave up the breath, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and ³⁶⁹Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

³⁶⁹Esau and Jacob were thus each 120 years old.

[Gen 36]
36:1 Now these are the generations of Esau (the same is Edom).
36:2 Esau took his wives of the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
36:3 and Basemath Ishmael’s daughter, sister of Nebaioth.
36:4 And Adah bare to Esau Eliphaz; and Basemath bare Reuel;
36:5 and Oholibamah bare Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah: these are the sons of Esau, that were born unto him in the land of Canaan.
36:6 And Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan; and went into a land away from his brother Jacob.
36:7 For their substance was too great for them to dwell together; and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle.
36:8 And Esau dwelt in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.
36:9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of ³⁷⁰the Edomites in mount Seir:

³⁷⁰Hb. Edom Also in vs. 43.

36:10 these are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.
36:11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, ³⁷¹Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.

³⁷¹In 1Chr 1:36, Zephi,

36:12 And Timna was concubine to Eliphaz Esau’s son; and she bare to Eliphaz Amalek: these are the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.
36:13 And these are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, and Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah: these were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
36:14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon, Esau’s wife: and she bare to Esau Jeush, and Jalam, and Korah.
36:15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau: the sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,
36:16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek: these are the chiefs that came of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah.
36:17 And these are the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah: these are the chiefs that came of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
36:18 And these are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, chief Korah: these are the chiefs that came of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.
36:19 These are the sons of Esau, and these are their chiefs: the same is Edom.
36:20 These are the sons of Seir the ³⁷²Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan and Shobal and Zibeon and Anah,

³⁷²Or, Hurrians (archaeology). A Caucasian people who likely came with Tidal, king of Gutium (ch. 14)

36:21 and Dishon and Ezer and Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, the children of Seir in the land of Edom.
36:22 And the children of Lotan were Hori and ³⁷³Heman; and Lotan’s sister was Timna.

³⁷³In 1Chr 1:39, Homan;

36:23 And these are the children of Shobal: ³⁷⁴Alvan and Manahath and Ebal, ³⁷⁵Shepho and Onam.

³⁷⁴In 1Chr 1:40, Alian
³⁷⁵In 1Chr 1:40, Shephi

36:24 And these are the children of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; this is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he fed the asses of Zibeon his father.
36:25 And these are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.
36:26 And these are the children of ³⁷⁶Dishon: ³⁷⁷Hemdan and Eshban and Ithran and Keran.

³⁷⁶Hb. Dishan:
³⁷⁷In 1Chr 1:41, Hamran

36:27 These are the children of Ezer: Bilhan and Zaavan and ³⁷⁸Akan.

³⁷⁸In 1Chr 1:42, Jaakan.

36:28 These are the children of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
36:29 These are the chiefs that came of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,
36:30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan: these are the chiefs that came of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
36:31 And these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom, before there reigned any king over the children of Israel.
36:32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
36:33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead,
36:34 And Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.
36:35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was Avith.
36:36 And Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his stead.
36:37 And Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth by the River reigned in his stead.
36:38 And Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his stead.
36:39 And Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and ³⁷⁹Hadar reigned in his stead: and the name of his city was ³⁸⁰Pau; and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the daughter of Mezahab.

³⁷⁹In 1Chr 1:50, Hadad
³⁸⁰In 1Chr 1:50, Pai;

36:40 And these are the names of the chiefs that came of Esau, according to their families, after their places, by their names: chief Timna, chief ³⁸¹Alvah, chief Jetheth,

³⁸¹In 1Chr 1:51, Aliah,

36:41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,
36:42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,
36:43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram: these are the chiefs of Edom according to their habitations in the land of their possession. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.
[Gen 37]
37:1 And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought an evil report of them unto their father.
37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him ³⁸²a coat of many colors.

³⁸²Or, a long garment. A coat such as worn by high officials.

37:4 And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren; and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
37:6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
37:7 for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves came round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
37:8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed yet a dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me.
37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and ³⁸³thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

³⁸³That is, Leah (Joseph’s mother Rachel had died.)

37:11 And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying in mind.
37:12 And his brethren went to feed ³⁸⁴and make merry in Shechem.

³⁸⁴Sopherim changed to their father’s flock in Shechem. See Companion Bible note.

37:13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Are not thy brethren feeding the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
37:14 And he said to him, Go now, see whether it is well with thy brethren, and well with the flock; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
37:15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
37:16 And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock.
37:17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
37:18 And they saw him afar off, and before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
37:19 And they said one to another, Behold, this ³⁸⁵dreamer cometh.

³⁸⁵Hb. master of dreams

37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
37:21 And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not kill his soul.
37:22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.
37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;
37:24 and they took him, and cast him into the pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing ³⁸⁶spicery and ³⁸⁷balm and ³⁸⁸myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

³⁸⁶Or, gum tragacanth or, storax
³⁸⁷Or, mastic
³⁸⁸Or, ladanum,

37:26 And ³⁸⁹Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

³⁸⁹With the 1^st- and 4^th-born trying to deliver Joseph from death, Simeon and Levi again appear guilty; ch. 42:24 points to Simeon as the ringleader.

37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened unto him.
37:28 And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.
37:29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
37:30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
37:31 And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a he-goat, and dipped the coat in the blood;
37:32 and they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, This have we found: know now whether it is thy son’s coat or not.
37:33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.
37:34 And Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son mourning. And his father wept for him.
37:36 And the ³⁹⁰Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the ³⁹¹captain of the guard.

³⁹⁰So Gk. Septuagint, Aramaic, and Latin Vulgate. Hb. Medanites Among the sons of Keturah (see ch. 25:2); Medan means Contention. Possibly the auctioneers.
³⁹¹Hb. chief of the executioners. And so elsewhere.

[Gen 38]
38:1 And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned in to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
38:2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua; and he took her, and went in unto her.
38:3 And she conceived, and bare a son; and he called his name Er.
38:4 And she conceived again, and bare a son; and she called his name Onan.
38:5 And she yet again bare a son, and called his name Shelah: and he was at Kezib, when she bare him.
38:6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
38:7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah; and Jehovah slew him.
38:8 And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother unto her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
38:9 And Onan knew that the seed would not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
38:10 And the thing which he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah: and he slew him also.
38:11 Then said Judah to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in thy father’s house, till Shelah my son be grown up; for he said, Lest he also die, like his brethren. And Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.
38:12 And in process of time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and Judah was comforted, and went up unto his sheep-shearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.
38:13 And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold, thy father-in-law goeth up to Timnah to shear his sheep.
38:14 And she put off from her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given unto him to wife.
38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought her to be a harlot; for she had covered her face.
38:16 And he turned unto her by the way, and said, Come, I pray thee, let me come in unto thee: for he knew not that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What wilt thou give me, that thou mayest come in unto me?
38:17 And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
38:18 And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff that is in thy hand. And he gave them to her, and came in unto her, and she conceived by him.
38:19 And she arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
38:20 And Judah sent the kid of the goats by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand: but he found her not.
38:21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the ³⁹²prostitute, that was at Enaim by the wayside? And they said, There hath been no prostitute here.

³⁹²Hb. qedeshah, that is, a woman dedicated to impure heathen worship. See Dt 23:17; Hos 4:14. (both times, and also in vs. 22.)

38:22 And he returned to Judah, and said, I have not found her; and also the men of the place said, There hath been no prostitute here.
38:23 And Judah said, Let her take it to her, lest we be put to shame: behold, I sent this kid, and thou hast not found her.
38:24 And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter-in-law hath played the harlot; and moreover, behold, she is with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.
38:25 When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, By the man, whose these are, am I with child: and she said, Discern, I pray thee, whose are these, the signet, and the cords, and the staff.
38:26 And Judah acknowledged them, and said, She is more righteous than I, forasmuch as I gave her not to Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more.
38:27 And it came to pass in the time of her travail, that, behold, twins were in her womb.
38:28 And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out a hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first.
38:29 And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold, his brother came out: and she said, ³⁹³Wherefore hast thou made a breach for thyself ? therefore his name was called ³⁹⁴Perez.

³⁹³Or, How hast thou made a breach? a breach be upon thee!
³⁹⁴That is, A breach. (Cf. Dan 5:28.)

38:30 And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zerah.
[Gen 39]
39:1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; ³⁹⁵and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites, that had brought him down thither.

³⁹⁵In the reign of Sesostris III. [Cf. note on ch. 41:46.]

39:2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
39:3 And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
39:4 And Joseph found favor in his sight, and he ministered unto him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
39:5 And it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of Jehovah was upon all that he had, in the house and in the field.
39:6 And he left all that he had in Joseph’s hand; and ³⁹⁶he knew not aught that was with him, save the bread which he did eat. And Joseph was comely, and well-favored.

³⁹⁶Or, with him he knew not,

39:7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me.
39:8 But he refused, and said unto his master’s wife, Behold, my master ³⁹⁷knoweth not what is with me in the house, and he hath put all that he hath into my hand:

³⁹⁷Or, knoweth not with me what is in the house,

39:9 he is not greater in this house than I; neither hath he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife: how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?
39:10 And it came to pass, as she spake to Joseph day by day, that he hearkened not unto her, to lie by her, or to be with her.
39:11 And it came to pass about this time, that he went into the house to do his work; and there was none of the men of the house there within.
39:12 And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me: and he left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.
39:13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand, and was fled forth,
39:14 that she called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he hath brought in a Hebrew unto us to mock us: he came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice:
39:15 and it came to pass, when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled, and got him out.
39:16 And she laid up his garment by her, until his master came home.
39:17 And she spake unto him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew servant, whom thou hast brought unto us, came in unto me to mock me:
39:18 and it came to pass, as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment by me, and fled out.
39:19 And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled.
39:20 And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, ³⁹⁸the place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.

³⁹⁸Here he could learn the details of government.

39:21 But Jehovah was with Joseph, and showed kindness unto him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.
39:22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
39:23 The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and that which he did, Jehovah made it to prosper.
[Gen 40]
40:1 And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker offended their lord the king of Egypt.
40:2 And ³⁹⁹Pharaoh was wroth against his two officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.

³⁹⁹Food poisoning would cause the chief baker and the chief butler to be the prime suspects.

40:3 And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.
40:4 And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he ministered unto them: and they continued a season in ward.
40:5 And they dreamed a dream both of them, each man his dream, in one night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison.
40:6 And Joseph came in unto them in the morning, and saw them, and behold they were sad.
40:7 And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in ward in his master’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sad today?
40:8 And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell it me, I pray you.
40:9 And the chief butler told his dream to Joseph, and said to him, In my dream, behold, a vine was before me;
40:10 and in the vine were three branches: and it was as though it budded, and its blossoms shot forth; and the clusters thereof brought forth ripe grapes:
40:11 and Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand; and I took the grapes, and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and I gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand.
40:12 And Joseph said unto him, This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days;
40:13 within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head, and restore thee unto thine office: and thou shalt give Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.
40:14 But have me in thy remembrance when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house:
40:15 for indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.
40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said unto Joseph, I also was in my dream, and, behold, three baskets of white bread were on my head:
40:17 and in the uppermost basket there was of all manner of baked food for Pharaoh; and the birds did eat them out of the basket upon my head.
40:18 And Joseph answered and said, This is the interpretation thereof: the three baskets are three days;
40:19 within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
40:20 And it came to pass the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, that he made a feast unto all his servants: and he lifted up the head of the chief butler and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
40:21 And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
40:22 but he hanged the chief baker: as Joseph had interpreted to them.
40:23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgat him.
[Gen 41]
41:1 And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the ⁴⁰⁰river.

⁴⁰⁰Hb. Yeor. That is, Nile. [Bohairic iapo, Iaro.]

41:2 And, behold, there came up out of the river seven ⁴⁰¹kine, well-favored and fat-fleshed; and they fed in the reed-grass.

⁴⁰¹Or, heifer, or, cow,

41:3 And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.
41:4 And the ill-favored and lean-fleshed kine did eat up the seven well-favored and fat kine. So Pharaoh awoke.
41:5 And he slept and dreamed a second time: and, behold, seven ears of grain came up upon one stalk, ⁴⁰²rank and good.

⁴⁰²Hb. fat Also in vs. 7.

41:6 And, behold, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them.
41:7 And the thin ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream.
41:8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the ⁴⁰³magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

⁴⁰³Or, sacred scribes of Egypt,

41:9 Then spake the chief butler unto Pharaoh, saying, I ⁴⁰⁴do remember my faults this day:

⁴⁰⁴Or, will make mention of my faults

41:10 Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker:
41:11 and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.
41:12 And there was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard; and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to each man according to his dream he did interpret.
41:13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; ⁴⁰⁵me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

⁴⁰⁵Or, I was restored … and he was hanged.

41:14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.
41:15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that when thou hearest a dream thou canst interpret it.
41:16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, ⁴⁰⁶It is not in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

⁴⁰⁶Sept., Samaritan, (4QGen^j) read Apart from God, the welfare of Pharaoh shall receive no answer. (So Abegg).

41:17 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the brink of the river:
41:18 and, behold, there came up out of the river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favored; and they fed in the reed-grass:
41:19 and, behold, seven other kine came up after them, poor and very ill-favored; and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness:
41:20 and the lean and ill-favored kine did eat up the first seven fat kine:
41:21 and when they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them; but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke.
41:22 And I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up upon one stalk, full and good.
41:23 and, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them:
41:24 and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears: and I told it unto the magicians; but there was none that could declare it to me.
41:25 And Joseph said unto Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh is one: what God is about to do he hath declared unto Pharaoh.
41:26 The seven good kine are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years: the dream is one.
41:27 And the seven lean and ill-favored kine that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they shall be seven years of famine.
41:28 That is the thing which I spake unto Pharaoh: what God is about to do he hath showed unto Pharaoh.
41:29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt:
41:30 and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume the land;
41:31 and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine which followeth; for it shall be very grievous.
41:32 And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.
41:33 Now therefore let Pharaoh look out a man discreet and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt.
41:34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and ⁴⁰⁷take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years.

⁴⁰⁷Years of abundant crops see farm prices drop, and farmers go bankrupt; so careful farm policy was required in the good years also.

41:35 And let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it.
41:36 And the food shall be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.
41:37 And the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.
41:38 And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom the spirit of God is?
41:39 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath showed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou:
41:40 thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people ⁴⁰⁸be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.

⁴⁰⁸Or, order themselves: or, do homage:

41:41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt.
41:42 And Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of ⁴⁰⁹fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck;

⁴⁰⁹Or, cotton,

41:43 and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, ⁴¹⁰Bow the knee: and he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴¹⁰Abrech: probably an Egyptian word, similar in sound to the Hebrew word meaning to kneel.

41:44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.
41:45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. And Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old ⁴¹¹when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

⁴¹¹Joseph’s exaltation in the 4^th year of Ammenemes III explains the more mysterious features of that reign: The basalt quarries at Hammamat were closed from the 4^th to 18^th years: The year Joseph came to power put top priority on food management, followed by 7 years of bumper crops and 7 years of failed crops. The making of monuments was deferred. 90 km² of new farmland was opened up in the Fayum district by draining swampland: Food production was maximized in preparation for famine. Two 18-meter high statues of Ammenemes III mark the road to the Fayum district: Ammenemes receives the credit for developing the Fayum in time to help survive the famine. The nomarchs (regional rulers) were wealthy early in Ammenemes’ reign but were later impoverished (yet without sign of civil unrest): During the years of plenty, Pharaoh’s treasury flowed out to the farmers and their overlords; during the failing-crop years, the people became poor, but there was food enough to keep them alive. The Middle Kingdom reached the apex of its glory, yet without battles and great victories; Ammenemes’ statues are found as far away as Byblos (north of Beirut, Lebanon): Egypt rescued the entire region with food in time of famine. Dates proposed for the 1^st year of Ammenemes III are: BC 1853 Ulrich Luft, “Il lahun studien IV;” 1989. 1842 Richard A. Parker, “Calendars of Ancient Egypt;” 1950. 1817 Rolf Krauss, “Sothis- und Monddaten;” 1985. 1682 David Rohl, “Pharaoh’s and Kings;” 1995. There were 195 years from the birth of Ishmael to the exaltation of Joseph in Egypt. [ch. 16:16; 21:5; 25:26; 41:46-47; 45:6; 47:9: –86 +100 +60 –7 –2 +130 = 195 years.] Comparing with footnotes on ch. 14:1 and 16:3, the most probable date for the exaltation of Joseph is BC 1839 (though less likely, 1814 is not ruled out). The corresponding date for the battle of the kings (ch. 14) is BC 2036.

41:47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls.
41:48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years ⁴¹²which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same.

⁴¹²Sept. reads in which was the plenty in the land

41:49 And Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left off numbering; for it was without number.
41:50 And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bare unto him.
41:51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn ⁴¹³Manasseh: For, said he, God hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.

⁴¹³That is, Making to forget:

41:52 And the name of the second called he ⁴¹⁴Ephraim: For God hath made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.

⁴¹⁴From a Hb. word signifying to be fruitful

41:53 And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end.
41:54 And ⁴¹⁵the seven years of famine began to come, according as Joseph had said: and there was famine in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

⁴¹⁵There are indications BC 1830 (±50) was abnormally warm.

41:55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do.
41:56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and ⁴¹⁶sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine was sore in the land of Egypt.

⁴¹⁶The outflow from Pharaoh’s treasury for reserves, and farm price support, began to reverse.

41:57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was sore in all the earth.
[Gen 42]
42:1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
42:2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
42:3 And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy grain from Egypt.
42:4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure harm befall him.
42:5 And the sons of Israel came to buy among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
42:6 And Joseph was the ⁴¹⁷governor over the land; he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves to him with their faces to the earth.

⁴¹⁷Or, vizier

42:7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly with them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of ⁴¹⁸Canaan to buy food.

⁴¹⁸Apparently under Egyptian dominance, ever since Sesostris III warred at Sekmem [probably Shechem].

42:8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
42:9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
42:10 And they said unto him, No, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
42:11 We are all one man’s sons; we are ⁴¹⁹true men, thy servants are no spies.

⁴¹⁹Or, truthful men, And so everywhere.

42:12 And he said unto them, No, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
42:13 And they said, We thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
42:14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
42:15 hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
42:16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be bound, that your words may be proved, whether there be truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
42:17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
42:18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
42:19 if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison-house; but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses:
42:20 and bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
42:21 And they said one to another, ⁴²⁰We are truly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

⁴²⁰A recognition of guilt, though short of confession.

42:22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore also, behold, his blood is required.
42:23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for there was ⁴²¹an interpreter between them.

⁴²¹There is no hint that Abram used an interpreter in Egypt; so the languages may have become mutually unintelligible in the 200 years between.

42:24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and he returned to them, and spake to them, and took ⁴²²Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.

⁴²²Suggesting Simeon had been the ringleader in urging the slaying of Joseph.

42:25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus was it done unto them.
42:26 And they laded their asses with their grain, and departed thence.
42:27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the lodging place, he espied his money; and, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.
42:28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God hath done unto us?
42:29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,
42:30 The man, the lord of the land, spake roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country.
42:31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
42:32 we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
42:33 And the man, the lord of the land, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men: leave one of your brethren with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way;
42:34 and bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land.
42:35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.
42:36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are ⁴²³against me.

⁴²³Or, upon

42:37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
42:38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left: if harm befall him by the way in which ye go, then will ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.
[Gen 43]
43:1 And the famine was sore in the land.
43:2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.
43:3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
43:4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
43:5 but if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down; for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
43:6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?
43:7 And they said, The man asked straitly concerning ourselves, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we in any wise know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
43:8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
43:9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then ⁴²⁴let me bear the blame for ever:

⁴²⁴Hb. I shall have sinned against thee for ever:

43:10 for except we had lingered, surely we had now returned a second time.
43:11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it be so now, do this: take of the choice fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spicery and myrrh, ⁴²⁵pistachio nuts, and almonds;

⁴²⁵Pistachio nuts grow abundantly in Israel and Syria, but are not known to grow in Egypt. So W. Wilson.

43:12 and take double money in your hand; and the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks carry again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:
43:13 take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:
43:14 and ⁴²⁶God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release unto you your other brother and Benjamin. And if I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

⁴²⁶Hb. El Shaddai

43:15 And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
43:16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house, and slay, and make ready; for the men shall dine with me at noon.
43:17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men to Joseph’s house.
43:18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may ⁴²⁷seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

⁴²⁷Hb. roll himself upon us,

43:19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spake unto him at the door of the house,
43:20 and said, Oh, my lord, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:
43:21 and it came to pass, when we came to the lodging-place, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.
43:22 And other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food: we know not who put our money in our sacks.
43:23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.
43:24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.
43:25 And they made ready the present against Joseph’s coming at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.
43:26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down themselves to him to the earth.
43:27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?
43:28 And they said, Thy servant our father is well, he is yet alive. And they bowed the head, and made obeisance.
43:29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.
43:30 And Joseph made haste; for his heart yearned over his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there.
43:31 And he washed his face, and came out; and he refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.
43:32 And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, that did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
43:33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one with another.
43:34 And ⁴²⁸he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and ⁴²⁹were merry with him.

⁴²⁸Or, messes were taken unto them
⁴²⁹Hb. drank largely with him.

[Gen 44]
44:1 And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.
44:2 And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his grain money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.
44:3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.
44:4 And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, Get up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good?
44:5 Is not this that in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divineth? ye have done evil in so doing.
44:6 And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these words.
44:7 And they said unto him, Wherefore speaketh my lord such words as these? Far be it from thy servants that they should do such a thing.
44:8 Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks’ mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan: how then should we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold?
44:9 With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.
44:10 And he said, Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my bondman; and ye shall be blameless.
44:11 Then they hasted, and took down every man his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.
44:12 And he searched, and began at the eldest, and left off at the youngest: and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
44:13 Then they rent their clothes, and laded every man his ass, and returned to the city.
44:14 And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house; and he was yet there: and they fell before him on the ground.
44:15 And Joseph said unto them, What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can indeed divine?
44:16 And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s bondmen, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found.
44:17 And he said, Far be it from me that I should do so: the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, get you up in peace unto your father.
44:18 Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh.
44:19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?
44:20 And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loveth him.
44:21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.
44:22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
44:23 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.
44:24 And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
44:25 And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.
44:26 And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us.
44:27 And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons:
44:28 and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him since:
44:29 and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with ⁴³⁰sorrow to Sheol.

⁴³⁰Hb. evil

44:30 Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that ⁴³¹his soul is bound up in the lad’s soul;

⁴³¹Or, his life is knit with the lad’s life; See 1Sa 18:1.

44:31 it will come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants will bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.
44:32 For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then shall I bear the blame to my father for ever.
44:33 Now therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.
44:34 For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad be not with me? lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.
[Gen 45]
45:1 Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
45:2 And he ⁴³²wept aloud: and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

⁴³²Hb. gave forth his voice in weeping:

45:3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
45:4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
45:5 And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
45:6 ⁴³³For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁴³³Consistent with the 1^st year of Ammenemes III in BC 1842, the seven years of famine would have been BC 1831-1825.

45:7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive ⁴³⁴by a great deliverance.

⁴³⁴Or, to be a great company that escape.

45:8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
45:9 Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not;
45:10 and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:
45:11 and there will I nourish thee; for there are yet five years of famine; lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast.
45:12 And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
45:13 And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen: and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
45:14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
45:15 And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
45:16 And the report thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
45:17 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
45:18 and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
45:19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye: take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
45:20 Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
45:21 And the sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
45:22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
45:23 And to his father he sent after this manner: ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.
45:24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
45:25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father.
45:26 And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he believed them not.
45:27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
45:28 and Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
[Gen 46]
46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
46:2 And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.
46:3 And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation:
46:4 I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes.
46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
46:6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him:
46:7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.
46:8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
46:9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.
46:10 And the sons of Simeon: ⁴³⁵Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and ⁴³⁶Jachin, and ⁴³⁷Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

⁴³⁵In Nu 26:12, 1Chr 4:24, Nemuel,
⁴³⁶In 1Chr 4:24, Jarib,
⁴³⁷In Nu 26:13, 1Chr 4:24, Zerah,

46:11 And the sons of Levi: ⁴³⁸Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

⁴³⁸In Ex 2:22, 1Chr 6:16, Gershom,

46:12 And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
46:13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and ⁴³⁹Puvah, and Iob, and Shimron.

⁴³⁹In 1Chr 7:1, Puah, Jashub, See Nu 26: 23, 24.

46:14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.
46:15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
46:16 And the sons of Gad: ⁴⁴⁰Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and ⁴⁴¹Ezbon, Eri, and ⁴⁴²Arodi, and Areli.

⁴⁴⁰In Nu 26:15, Zephon,
⁴⁴¹In Nu 26:16, Ozni, Sept. reads Thasoban,
⁴⁴²In Nu 26:17, Arod,

46:17 And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel.
46:18 these are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.
46:19 The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin.
46:20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bare unto him.
46:21 And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, ⁴⁴³Ehi, and Rosh, ⁴⁴⁴Muppim, and ⁴⁴⁵Huppim, and Ard.

⁴⁴³In Nu 26:38, Ahiram,
⁴⁴⁴In Nu 26:39, Shephupham, In 1Chr 7:12, Shuppim
⁴⁴⁵In Nu 26:39, Hupham,

46:22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
46:23 And the sons of Dan: ⁴⁴⁶Hushim.

⁴⁴⁶In Nu 26:42, Shuham.

46:24 And the sons of Naphtali: ⁴⁴⁷Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and ⁴⁴⁸Shillem.

⁴⁴⁷In 1Chr 7:13, Jahziel,
⁴⁴⁸In 1Chr 7:13, Shallum.

46:25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and these she bare unto Jacob: all the souls were seven.
46:26 All the ⁴⁴⁹souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six;

⁴⁴⁹Or, souls belonging to Jacob that came into Egypt,

46:27 and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy.
46:28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to show the way before him unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
46:29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and ⁴⁵⁰went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

⁴⁵⁰The Egyptian capital (throughout the 12^th Dynasty) was at It-towĕ, 45 km south of modern Cairo (and near the Fayum district), while Goshen is a broad fertile region about 80 km NE of Cairo.

46:30 And Israel said unto Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou art yet alive.
46:31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;
46:32 and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.
46:33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation?
46:34 that ye shall say, Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
[Gen 47]
47:1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen.
47:2 And from among his brethren he took five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh.
47:3 And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.
47:4 And they said unto Pharaoh, to sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for thy servants’ flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.
47:5 And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee:
47:6 the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any ⁴⁵¹able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle.

⁴⁵¹Or, men of activity among them,

47:7 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
47:8 And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?
47:9 And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my ⁴⁵²pilgrimage are a hundred thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.

⁴⁵²Or, sojournings (both times)

47:10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
47:11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ⁴⁵³Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

⁴⁵³Evidently an intentional anachronism, as also in Ex 1:11, 12:37, for the city and district earlier called Hatwaret, or Avaris, in the E. Delta.

47:12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, ⁴⁵⁴according to their families.

⁴⁵⁴Or, according to the number of their little ones.

47:13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
47:14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
47:15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for our money faileth.
47:16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
47:17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for ⁴⁵⁵the flocks, and for the herds, and for the asses: and he ⁴⁵⁶fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year.

⁴⁵⁵Hb. the cattle of the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds,
⁴⁵⁶Hb. led them as a shepherd

47:18 And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s; there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands:
47:19 wherefore should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.
47:20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for ⁴⁵⁷the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them: and the land became Pharaoh’s.

⁴⁵⁷Hence the poverty of even the nomarchs began before the middle of the reign of Ammenemes III.

47:21 And as for the people, ⁴⁵⁸he removed them ⁴⁵⁹to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof.

⁴⁵⁸According to Sept. and Vulgate (but not Aramaic), he made bondmen of them, from etc.
⁴⁵⁹Or, according to their cities

47:22 Only the land of the priests bought he not: for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; wherefore they sold not their land.
47:23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land.
47:24 And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.
47:25 And they said, ⁴⁶⁰Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.

⁴⁶⁰Thus, Joseph was the savior of the world then, and specially of his brethren.

47:26 And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone became not Pharaoh’s.
47:27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
47:28 And ⁴⁶¹Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty-seven years.

⁴⁶¹Consistent with the 1^st year of Ammenemes III in BC 1842, Jacob’s death would have been BC 1813.

47:29 And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;
47:30 but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.
47:31 And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.
[Gen 48]
48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
48:2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
48:3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, ⁴⁶²God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

⁴⁶²Hb. El Shaddai

48:4 and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.
48:5 And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.
48:6 And thy issue, that thou ⁴⁶³begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

⁴⁶³Or, hast begotten after them,

48:7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died ⁴⁶⁴by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).

⁴⁶⁴Or, to my sorrow

48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
48:9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.
48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
48:11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.
48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, ⁴⁶⁵guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

⁴⁶⁵Or, crossing his hands;

48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day,
48:16 the angel who hath ransomed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become ⁴⁶⁶a multitude of nations.

⁴⁶⁶Hb. fulness of the nations.

48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, ⁴⁶⁷In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

⁴⁶⁷Or, By

48:21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one ⁴⁶⁸portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

⁴⁶⁸Or, mountain slope Hb. shechem, shoulder

[Gen 49]
49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.
49:2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father.
49:3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the ⁴⁶⁹beginning of my strength; The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.

⁴⁶⁹Or, firstfruits of my strength;

49:4 Boiling over as water, ⁴⁷⁰thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

⁴⁷⁰Or, have not thou

49:5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their ⁴⁷¹swords.

⁴⁷¹Or, compacts.

49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their ⁴⁷²council; Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew ⁴⁷³a man, And in their self-will they hocked ⁴⁷⁴an ox.

⁴⁷²Or, secret;
⁴⁷³Or, men, Hb. ish (singular, but could be generic)
⁴⁷⁴Or, oxen. Hb. shor (singular, but could be generic)

49:7 ⁴⁷⁵Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will ⁴⁷⁶divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.

⁴⁷⁵Hb. ררא, arar; to curse, to execrate!
⁴⁷⁶Simeon received towns scattered in the territory of Judah (hence, no contiguous territory), and Levi forty-eight towns scattered in all Israel. Josh 20-21

49:8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee.
49:9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor ⁴⁷⁷the ruler’s staff from between his feet, ⁴⁷⁸Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

⁴⁷⁷Or, a lawgiver
⁴⁷⁸Or, Till he come to Shiloh, having the obeisance of the peoples. Aramaic reads Till he come whose it is; etc. or, …whose the sceptre is;

49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; He hath washed his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes:
49:12 His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk.
49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the ⁴⁷⁹haven of the seas; And he shall be for a haven of ships; And his border shall be ⁴⁸⁰unto Sidon.

⁴⁷⁹Hb. beach (both times)
⁴⁸⁰Or, by Sidon. Severin, versions read unto Sidon.

49:14 Issachar is a strong ass, Couching down between ⁴⁸¹the two sheepfolds:

⁴⁸¹Or, its saddlebags ( per ESV)

49:15 And he saw ⁴⁸²a resting-place that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant under task-work.

⁴⁸²Or, rest

49:16 Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel.
49:17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way, An ⁴⁸³adder in the path, That biteth the horse’s heels, So that his rider falleth backward.

⁴⁸³Or, horned snake

49:18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah.
49:19 Gad, ⁴⁸⁴a troop ⁴⁸⁵shall press upon him; But he shall press upon their heel.

⁴⁸⁴Hb. gedud, a marauding band
⁴⁸⁵Hb. gad, to press

49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, And he shall yield royal dainties.
49:21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: He giveth goodly words.
49:22 Joseph is ⁴⁸⁶a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a fountain; His ⁴⁸⁷branches run over the wall.

⁴⁸⁶Hb. the son of a fruitful tree,
⁴⁸⁷Hb. daughters

49:23 The archers have sorely grieved him, And shot at him, and persecuted him:
49:24 But his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made ⁴⁸⁸strong, By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (⁴⁸⁹From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),

⁴⁸⁸Or, active,
⁴⁸⁹Or, From thence, from the shepherd, Hb^mg reads  By the name of the shepherd,

49:25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee, With the blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
49:26 The blessings of thy father Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him ⁴⁹⁰that was separate from his brethren.

⁴⁹⁰Or, that is prince among his brethren.

49:27 Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth: In the morning he shall devour the prey, And towards evening he shall divide the spoil.
49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
49:29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
49:30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place.
49:31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I ⁴⁹¹buried Leah –

⁴⁹¹Perhaps in one of the first two years of the famine, though possibly any time after Joseph came to power. Compare ch. 37:9-10.

49:32 the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.
49:33 And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the breath, and was gathered unto his people.
[Gen 50]
50:1 And Joseph fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.
50:2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.
50:3 And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
50:4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph ⁴⁹²spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

⁴⁹²Due to mourning (and the distance between Goshen and It-towĕ, the capital); Joseph was still in office, likely for 16 years more. See vss. 16-21.

50:5 My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I ⁴⁹³have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.

⁴⁹³Or, bought

50:6 And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.
50:7 And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
50:8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
50:9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
50:10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
50:11 And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous ⁴⁹⁴mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

⁴⁹⁴Hb. ebel

50:12 And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:
50:13 for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.
50:14 And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
50:15 And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.
50:16 And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
50:17 So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.
50:18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we are thy servants.
50:19 And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?
50:20 And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
50:21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake ⁴⁹⁵kindly unto them.

⁴⁹⁵Hb. to their heart.

50:22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house; and ⁴⁹⁶Joseph lived a hundred ten years.

⁴⁹⁶Thus, Joseph lived thirty-eight years after the death of Ammenemes III, and about twenty-seven years after Egypt’s great 12^th Dynasty was overthrown. Nymare Ammenemes III (1842-1797) was ultimately succeeded by his daughter Queen Sobkneferu, who was overthrown ca. 1786 and replaced by the 13^th Dynasty. The new dynasty would be expected to be estranged from Joseph, and therefore from all of Israel.

50:23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph’s knees.
50:24 And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
50:25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
50:26 So Joseph died, being a hundred ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.