Footnotes

1. Genesis 35:1 tn Heb “arise, go up.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.
2. Genesis 35:1 sn God is calling on Jacob to fulfill his vow he made when he fled from…Esau (see Gen 28:20-22).
3. Genesis 35:2 tn Heb “which are in your midst.”
4. Genesis 35:2 sn The actions of removing false gods, becoming ritually clean, and changing garments would become necessary steps in Israel when approaching the Lord in worship.
5. Genesis 35:3 tn Heb “let us arise and let us go up.” The first cohortative gives the statement a sense of urgency.
6. Genesis 35:3 tn The cohortative with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or consequence.
7. Genesis 35:3 tn Heb “day of distress.” See Ps 20:1 which utilizes similar language.
8. Genesis 35:3 tn Heb “in the way in which I went.” Jacob alludes here to God’s promise to be with him (see Gen 28:20).
9. Genesis 35:4 tn Heb “in their hand.”
10. Genesis 35:4 tn Or “the rings that were in the ears of the idols.” The third person plural suffix on the word בְּאָזְנֵיהֶם (b^eʾoznehem, “in their ears”) could refer to the members of Jacob’s household or the “gods” which they possessed. Most exegetes understand it to refer to the people, but Victor Hurowitz, “Who Lost an Earring? Genesis 35:4 Reconsidered,” CBQ 62 (2000): 28-32, argues that the earrings were in the ears of the idols.sn On the basis of a comparison with Gen 34 and Num 31, G. J. Wenham (Genesis [WBC], 2:324) argues that the foreign gods and the rings could have been part of the plunder that came from the destruction of Shechem. Whereas if the rings were in the ears of the idols, then getting rid of the idols while not keeping the rings (even for monetary value) emphasizes the extent of putting away the foreign gods and purifying themselves. N. Fox has suggested that ear rings in the idols related to the gods hearing prayers while ear rings in the people symbolized obedience (John Walton, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary I, 119). If so, giving the earrings further symbolized the breaking of relationship with these false gods.
11. Genesis 35:4 sn Jacob buried them. On the burial of the gods, see E. Nielson, “The Burial of the Foreign Gods,” ST 8 (1954/55): 102-22.
12. Genesis 35:4 tn Or “terebinth.”
13. Genesis 35:5 tn Heb “and they journeyed.”
14. Genesis 35:5 tn Heb “and the fear of God was upon the cities which were round about them.” The expression “fear of God” apparently refers (1) to a fear of God (objective genitive; God is the object of their fear). (2) But it could mean “fear from God,” that is, fear which God placed in them (cf. NRSV “a terror from God”). Another option (3) is that the divine name is used as a superlative here, referring to “tremendous fear” (cf. NEB “were panic-stricken”; NASB “a great terror”).
15. Genesis 35:6 tn Heb “and Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan—it is Bethel—he and all the people who were with him.”
16. Genesis 35:7 sn The name El Bethel means “God of Bethel.”
17. Genesis 35:7 tn Heb “revealed themselves.” The verb נִגְלוּ (niglu), translated “revealed himself,” is plural, even though one expects the singular form with the plural of majesty. Perhaps אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim) is here a numerical plural, referring both to God and the angelic beings that appeared to Jacob. See the note on the word “know” in Gen 3:5.
18. Genesis 35:8 sn Deborah. This woman had been Rebekah’s nurse, but later attached herself to Jacob. She must have been about 180 years old when she died.
19. Genesis 35:8 tn “and he called its name.” There is no expressed subject, so the verb can be translated as passive.
20. Genesis 35:8 tn Or “Allon Bacuth,” if one transliterates the Hebrew name (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). An oak tree was revered in the ancient world and often designated as a shrine or landmark. This one was named for the weeping (mourning) occasioned by the death of Deborah.