Genesis 16

Notes

1. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 53

   ἵνα τεκνοποιήσεις ἐξ αὐτῆς, "that you may bear children from her," where the Masoretic version reads "perhaps I shall be built from her" (אִבָּנֶה, a play on בֵּן "son"). Swete prints the second person, from Alexandrinus, so that the children are Abram's to get, not Sarai's to be built by; Rahlfs reads the verb differently here. The Greek has a purpose clause, "that," where the Masoretic version has "perhaps," and has no word for either "please" (נָא). τεκνοποιέω keeps its gloss ("bear children"), and with a male subject the strangeness is the Greek's, as with "bore" at 4:18 (90).

2. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 4, 52, 53

   ὑπήκουσεν δὲ Ἀβρὰμ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῆς, "Abram obeyed her voice," where the Masoretic version reads "Abram heard the voice of Sarai." ὑπακούω is the New Testament's "obey," and 1 Pet 3:6 turns this verse around: "as Sarah obeyed (ὑπήκουσεν) Abraham, calling him lord" (compare 18:12). Swete prints αὐτῆς, "her," from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs reads the name.

3. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   Ἀδικοῦμαι ἐκ σοῦ, "I am wronged by you," where the Masoretic version reads "My violence is on you!" (חֲמָסִי עָלֶיךָ): the Greek turns Sarai's charge into a complaint of injury, with ἀδικέω, the verb of 1 Cor 6:7–8 ("why not rather be wronged?"). εἰς τὸν κόλπον σου, "into your bosom," is the κόλπος of Luke 16:22–23, "the bosom of Abraham." Sarai calls on God where the Masoretic version reads ADONAI, and the Greek has one "between" for the Masoretic version's two ("between me and between you").

4. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 137

   Swete prints ἰδοὺ ἡ παιδίσκη σου ἐναντίον σου, "look, your servant-girl is before you," from Alexandrinus, marked as a difference of word,, where Rahlfs reads ἐν ταῖς χερσίν σου, "in your hands," and the Masoretic version "in your hand." Swete also prints ὡς δ’ ἂν σοι ἀρεστὸν ᾖ, with a particle δέ that Rahlfs lacks; it is printed "now" (142g). χρῶ αὐτῇ, "use her," where the Masoretic version reads "do to her the good in your eyes": χράομαι is the verb of 1 Cor 7:21, 31 and 9:12, 15 ("I have used none of these things").

5. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 53, 54, 143

   Swete prints ἄγγελος Κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ, "a messenger of the Lord God," from Alexandrinus, where Rahlfs and the Masoretic version have "the messenger of the Lord" alone. The alignment cannot pair τοῦ θεοῦ and does not seed it; it is marked as a plus, as at 10:9. The Greek has πηγή "spring" for the Masoretic version's "eye" (עַיִן) of the waters, and the singular "the water."

6. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Ruling 52

   ταπεινώθητι, "be humbled," a passive, where the Masoretic version reads "afflict yourself" (the hithpael of עָנָה). ταπεινόω is the verb of Phil 2:8, "he humbled himself."

7. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 18, 52

   Ἰσμαήλ, the Masoretic version's יִשְׁמָעֵאל, "El hears," which that version ties to "ADONAI has heard" (שָׁמַע). The Greek gives the reason with ἐπήκουσεν, "has listened to," not with ἀκούω "hear," so the sound of the name is lost in Greek as in English; the same verb returns when God answers Abraham for Ishmael (17:20). τῇ ταπεινώσει σου, "your humiliation," the noun of ταπεινόω "humble" (16:9): it is Mary's word, "he looked upon the humiliation of his slave" (Luke 1:48), and Acts 8:33 (Isa 53:8). ἐν γαστρὶ ἔχεις, "you have a child in the womb," the Greek idiom for "pregnant" (Matt 1:18, 23).

8. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 11, 52

   ἄγροικος ἄνθρωπος, "a rustic man," a dweller in the fields (ἀγρός), where the Masoretic version reads "a wild ass of a man" (פֶּרֶא אָדָם): the Greek drops the animal and keeps the open country. ἄνθρωπος prints "man" under ruling 11, since Hagar, a woman already in the story, is named in the next verse; the Masoretic version reads "man" here for the same reason. αἱ χεῖρες, "his hands … the hands of all," plural, where the Masoretic version reads "his hand … the hand of all."

9. Reading↩ Back to the text

   Rulings 52, 53, 54

   Σὺ ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἐφιδών με, "You are the God who looked upon me," where the Masoretic version reads the name "El Roi" (אֵל רֳאִי): the Greek translates the name. ἐφιδών, of ἐφοράω, the verb of ἐπεῖδον "look upon" (Luke 1:25, "the Lord … looked upon me to take away my reproach"). Then Καὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιον ἴδον ὀφθέντα μοι, "for even face to face I saw the one seen by me," a statement: ἐνώπιον has no object here and is the adverb, "face to face", where the Masoretic version asks, "Have I even here seen after the one seeing me?": the Greek has no word for "after" (אַחֲרֵי), seeded as a minus and marked, and makes the last participle passive (ὤφθη is the verb of the Lord's appearings, 12:7; 17:1; 18:1). Swete spells ἴδον for εἶδον here and at 16:14.

10. Reading↩ Back to the text

    Rulings 18, 52

    Φρέαρ οὗ ἐνώπιον ἴδον, "Well Where I Saw Face to Face," where the Masoretic version keeps the name "Beer-lahai-roi" (בְּאֵר לַחַי רֹאִי): the Greek translates it, and the translation is printed as the name. οὗ is the adverb of place, "where," and ἐνώπιον has no object, as at 16:13. ἕνεκεν τούτου, "on account of this," stands for the Masoretic version's "Thus." Βάραδ is Swete's spelling of Bered.