17 August 2022 draft-bible
3. slave. Hebrew ʾamah. Exploiting enslaved women for reproductive purposes is a theme which reappears repeatedly in biblical narratives – other examples include Hagar and Zilpah.
3. obtain children. Literally, ‘be built’. This is an example of a well-attested Hebrew idiom in which having children is expressed in terms of ‘building a house[hold]’.
4. slave. Hebrew šifḥah.
6. judged my case. Hebrew dananni, from which this story derived the name Dan. The potential issue with translating dananni as ‘judged me’ is that in English this could imply that God’s verdict is negative toward Rachel, while the passage itself makes clear that Rachel is celebrating a positive outcome for herself. She sees the birth of this son, which by virtue of her property rights over her slave she claims for herself, as a result of God’s acting like a judge who has ruled in her favor.
8. I have wrestled. Hebrew niphtalti. with mighty wrestlings. Hebrew naphtulei ʾelohim, literally, ‘wrestlings of God’. DCH suggests that perhaps the phrase should be understood as “wrestlings ordained by God” (entry for פתל). Rachel is relating these terms, translated here as ‘wrestled’ and ‘wrestlings’, to the name of the child, Naphtali.
9. stopped. Hebrew ʿamad. The verb indicates that some activity has stopped, although it does not require that the stopping is final or permanent. Thus, the WEB goes astray here by reading ‘finished’. While Leah has certainly stopped having children – for now – she is not finished, as can be seen in verses 17, 19, and 21, in which she has three more children.
11. How fortunate! Hebrew bᵉgad, reading according to the ktiv (as recommended in BHK__1905). The qere, however, reads baʾ gad, which has been variously interpreted as ‘Fortune comes!’ or ‘A troop comes!’
13. Happy am I. Hebrew bᵉʾošri. will call me happy. Hebrew ʾiššᵉruni. The text is relating both these words related to happiness to the name Asher (ʾašer).
14. mandrakes. A plant which inspired a number of superstitious beliefs in the ancient worlds, including beliefs that it had aphrodisiac and fertility-promoting qualities.
16. come in to me. Robert Alter has asserted that “this particular idiom for sexual intercourse (literally, ‘to me you will come’), ordinarily used for intercourse with a woman the man has not previously enjoyed, is a strong indication that Jacob has been sexually boycotting Leah. That could be precisely what she is referring to when she says to Rachel, ‘You have taken my husband’” (Alter, Genesis, 1996, p. 160).
16. I have surely hired you. Hebrew, śakor sᵉkartika.
18. my hire. Hebrew sᵉkari. The uses in 16 and 18 of ‘hire’ are designed to provide a rationale for the name Issachar (Hebrew yiśśakar, according to the qere).
20. endowed … dowry … will live with me. Hebrew zᵉbadani … zebed … yizbᵉleini. It would appear that the text is relating both the roots z-b-d and z-b-l to the name ‘Zebulun’.
21. Joseph. Hebrew yosef, to which compare the phrase yosef YHWH, ‘May Yahweh add’.
29. he said. So reads the Hebrew. WEB supplies the subject ‘Jacob’, but it is clear enough even without explicitly specifying that it is Jacob who is speaking.
29. livestock. Hebrew miqneh, a term not exclusively limited to bovines, as some might take the word ‘cattle’.
31. And he said. So reads the Hebrew. WEB supplies ‘Laban’.
34. as you have said. Hebrew kidbareka.
37. poplar. Hebrew libneh. Or ‘storax’ (as in HALOT; compare also DCH).
37. almond. Hebrew luz. This term appears only here, but DCH, HALOT, and Gesenius-LT all concur in identifying it as the almond tree. The KJV reads ‘hazel’.
37. plane tree. Hebrew ʿermon, which appears only here and Ezekiel 31:8. But DCH, HALOT, BDB, and Gesenius-LT all interpret it as ‘plane tree’. The KJV reads ‘chestnut tree’.
38. in the gutters, in the watering troughs. Hebrew barᵉhatim bᵉšiqᵃtot, an expression which is a bit repetitive. It is possible that bᵉšiqᵃtot was a later explanatory addition to the text. I am uncertain as to whether the WEB’s omission of “in the watering troughs” reflects a belief that the phrase is a later addition.
43. _female slaves, and male slaves._ See the entry ‘slaves’ in the appendix “Recurring Words”.
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