translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET translator note

text: The call of Abram begins with an imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ ( lekh-lÿkha , “go out”) followed by three cohortatives (v. 2 a) indicating purpose or consequence (“that I may” or “then I will”). If Abram leaves, then God will do these three things. The second imperative (v. 2 b, literally “and be a blessing”) is subordinated to the preceding cohortatives and indicates God’s ultimate purpose in calling and blessing Abram. On the syntactical structure of vv. 1-2 see R. B. Chisholm, “Evidence from Genesis,” A Case for Premillennialism , 37. For a similar sequence of volitive forms see Gen 45:18 . sn It would be hard to overestimate the value of this call and this divine plan for the theology of the Bible. Here begins God’s plan to bring redemption to the world. The promises to Abram will be turned into a covenant in Gen 15 and 22 (here it is a call with conditional promises) and will then lead through the Bible to the work of the Messiah.


text: The initial command is the direct imperative ( לֶךְ , lekh ) from the verb הָלַךְ ( halakh ). It is followed by the lamed preposition with a pronominal suffix ( לְךָ , lÿkha ) emphasizing the subject of the imperative: “ you leave.”


text: The three first person verbs in v. 2 a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.


text: Or “I will make you famous.”


text: Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה ( hÿyeh ) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה ( hayah ). The vav ( ו ) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13 , where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19 ; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22 ). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2 , then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.


text: The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.


text: In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ ( mÿqallelkha ) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל ( qalal ), which means “to be light” in the Qal , and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’ arar ), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse .”


text: Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14 .) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4 ) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings on”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18 ; Ps 72:17 ; Isa 65:16 ; Jer 4:2 . Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11 .


text: Heb “just as the Lord said to him.”


text: The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.


text: Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].” sn Terah was 70 years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran ( Gen 11:26 ). Terah was 205 when he died in Haran ( 11:32 ). Abram left Haran at the age of 75 after his father died. Abram was born when Terah was 130. Abram was not the firstborn – he is placed first in the list of three because of his importance. The same is true of the list in Gen 10:1 (Shem, Ham and Japheth). Ham was the youngest son ( 9:24 ). Japheth was the older brother of Shem ( 10:21 ), so the birth order of Noah’s sons was Japheth, Shem, and Ham.


text: Heb “the son of his brother.”


text: For the semantic nuance “acquire [property]” for the verb עָשָׂה (’ asah ), see BDB 795 s.v. עָשָׂה .


text: Heb “went out to go.”


text: Or “terebinth.”


text: Heb “as far as the place of Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh.”


text: The disjunctive clause gives important information parenthetical in nature – the promised land was occupied by Canaanites.


text: The same Hebrew term זֶרַע ( zera ’) may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: For location see Map4-G4 ; Map5-C1 ; Map6-E3 ; Map7-D1 ; Map8-G3 .


text: Heb “he called in the name of the Lord .” The expression refers to worshiping the Lord through prayer and sacrifice (see Gen 4:26; 13:4; 21:33; 26:25 ). See G. J. Wenham, Genesis (WBC), 1:116, 281.


text: The Hebrew verb נָסַע ( nasa ’) means “to journey”; more specifically it means to pull up the tent and move to another place. The construction here uses the preterite of this verb with its infinitive absolute to stress the activity of traveling. But it also adds the infinitive absolute of הָלַךְ ( halakh ) to stress that the traveling was continually going on. Thus “Abram journeyed, going and journeying” becomes “Abram continually journeyed by stages.”


text: Or “the South [country].” sn Negev is the name for the southern desert region in the land of Canaan.


text: The Hebrew verb גּוּר ( gur ), traditionally rendered “to sojourn,” means “to stay for a while.” The “stranger” (traditionally “sojourner”) is one who is a temporary resident, a visitor, one who is passing through. Abram had no intention of settling down in Egypt or owning property. He was only there to wait out the famine.


text: Heb “heavy in the land.” The words “in the land,” which also occur at the beginning of the verse in the Hebrew text, have not been repeated here in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “drew near to enter.”


text: The particle הִנֵּה ( hinneh , “look”) is deictic here; it draws attention to the following fact.


text: Heb “a woman beautiful of appearance are you.”


text: The Piel of the verb חָיָה ( khayah , “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.


text: Heb “say.”


text: The Hebrew verb translated “go well” can encompass a whole range of favorable treatment, but the following clause indicates it means here that Abram’s life will be spared.


text: Heb “and my life will live.”


text: Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.


text: The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח ( vattuqqakh , “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.


text: The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.


text: Heb “and there was to him.”


text: The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26 ). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.


text: The demonstrative pronoun translated “this” adds emphasis: “What in the world have you done to me?” (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax , 24, §118).


text: The preterite with vav ( ו ) consecutive here expresses consequence.


text: Heb “to me for a wife.”


text: Heb “Look, your wife!”


text: Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.