CONTENTS LIST OF CHARTS, MAPS, AND ILLUSTRATIONS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION TO THIS STUDY BIBLE HOW TO USE THIS STUDY BIBLE PREFACE TO THE ESV EXPLANATION OF FEATURES ABBREVIATIONS AND SPECIAL MARKINGS TABLE OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES AND MONETARY UNITS READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF BOOKS ENGLISH AND HEBREW CLASSIFICATIONS OF OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS ABBREVIATIONS FOR THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT The Old Testament Annotated Genesis............................................ Exodus...........................................65 Leviticus....................................... 6 Numbers....................................... 52 Deuteronomy.................................. 20 Joshua.......................................... 245 Judges.......................................... 276 Ruth............................................ 307 Samuel....................................... 33 2 Samuel....................................... 353 Kings......................................... 387 2 Kings......................................... 427 Chronicles................................... 465 2 Chronicles................................... 497 Ezra............................................ 536 Nehemiah..................................... 550 Esther.......................................... 569 Job.............................................. 580 Psalms......................................... 622 Proverbs....................................... 729 v vii viii ix xi xv xvii xviii xix xxvi xxvii xxviii xxix xxxi Ecclesiastes.................................... 768 Song of Solomon.............................. 78 Isaiah.......................................... 79 Jeremiah....................................... 87 Lamentations.................................. 946 Ezekiel......................................... 955 Daniel.........................................08 Hosea.........................................04 Joel............................................055 Amos..........................................06 Obadiah......................................074 Jonah..........................................077 Micah.........................................082 Nahum........................................092 Habakkuk....................................097 Zephaniah....................................02 Haggai........................................07 Zechariah..................................... Malachi.......................................25 BETWEEN THE TESTAMENTS 3 THE APOCRYPHA 33 MACCABEAN REVOLT 35 iii
HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS 36 INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT 43 NEW TESTAMENT BOOKS and POLITICAL BACKGROUND 45 PALESTINE AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE 46 MIRACLES OF JESUS 47 MESSIANIC PROPHECIES 48 INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPELS 49 COMPARISON OF THE FOUR GOSPELS and WORDS OF CHRIST IN THE FOUR GOSPELS 50 Matthew......................................53 Mark..........................................203 Luke...........................................234 John...........................................280 Acts...........................................38 Romans.......................................366 Corinthians.................................389 2 Corinthians.................................42 Galatians......................................426 Ephesians.....................................435 Philippians...................................444 Colossians....................................45 Thessalonians..............................458 2 Thessalonians..............................465 The New Testament Annotated 5 INDEX TO PRINCIPAL SUBJECTS IN THE NOTES 577 A SYNOPSIS OF BIBLE DOCTRINE 585 THE INSPIRATION OF THE BIBLE 6 Timothy.....................................469 2 Timothy.....................................477 Titus...........................................483 Philemon.....................................488 Hebrews......................................492 James..........................................5 Peter.........................................59 2 Peter.........................................527 John.........................................532 2 John.........................................540 3 John.........................................542 Jude...........................................544 Revelation....................................547 UNDERSTANDING THE BIBLE 64 HOW WE GOT OUR BIBLE 66 THE MEANING AND BLESSINGS OF SALVATION 68 ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE BIBLE 62 A BRIEF SURVEY OF CHURCH HISTORY 624 TOPICAL INDEX OF SCRIPTURE 634 CONCORDANCE 673 TIMELINE 744 MAP INDEX 752 MAPS iv
Genesis I. The Creation of the World, :-2:25 A. The Beginning of Creation, :-2 In the a beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was b without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. B. The Days of Creation, :3-2:3 3 And God said, c Let there be light, and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day. 6 And God said, d Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the Chapter a Job 38:4-7; Ps. 33:6; 36:5; Isa. 42:5; 45:8; John :-3; Acts 4:5; 7:24; Col. :6, 7; Heb. :0; :3; Rev. 4: 2 b Jer. 4:23 3 c 2 Cor. 4:6 6 d Job 37:8; Ps. 36:5; Jer. 0:2; 5:5 7 e Prov. 8:27-29 f Ps. 48:4 9 g Job 38:8-; Ps. 33:7; 36:6; Jer. 5:22; 2 Pet. 3:5 h Ps. 04:4 waters from the waters. 7 And God made 2 the expanse and e separated the waters that were under the expanse from the waters that were f above the expanse. And it was so. 8 And God called the expanse Heaven. 3 And there was evening and there was morning, the second day. 9 And God said, g Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear. And it was so. 0 God called the dry land Earth, 4 and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And God said, h Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants 5 yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according Or a canopy; also verses 7, 8, 4, 5, 7, 20 2 Or fashioned; also verse 6 3 Or Sky; also verses 9, 4, 5, 7, 20, 26, 28, 30; 2: 4 Or Land; also verses, 2, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 30; 2: 5 Or small plants; also verses 2, 29 : In the beginning. Not of eternity, but of the creation of the world as described in this chapter. This marks the first break in the past endless eternity. God. Lit., Elohim, a generic term for deity as well as a proper name for the true God. It is used of pagan gods (3:30; Ex. 2:2), angels (Ps. 8:5), men (Ps. 82:6), and judges (Ex. 2:6), though most frequently of the true God. Its basic meaning is strong one, mighty leader, supreme Deity. The form of the word is plural, indicating plentitude of power and majesty and allowing for the NT revelation of the triunity of the Godhead. Cf. note on Gen. 2:4. created. Heb. bara, used also in verses 2 and 27. The word itself does not preclude the use of preexisting material (Isa. 65:8), though none is mentioned or implied here (cf. other occurrences in Ps. 5:0; Isa. 65:7; Amos 4:3). Bara means essentially the same as asa, to do or make (used in v. 25 and also of the entire creative activity in Ex. 20: and Neh. 9:6). A third word for God s creative activity, yasar ( formed ), occurs in Gen. 2:7. the heavens and the earth. I.e., the universe. :2 The earth was without form and void. Some understand a gap of an indeterminate period of time between verses and 2, and translate became rather than was. Although the Hebrew word may mean became (as in 9:26), the construction of the clause does not support a consecutive statement describing something that happened subsequent to verse ( and ) but rather describing something included in verse ( but ). In other words, the initial creation was formless and empty, a condition soon remedied. See note on Isa. 45:8. The phrase means that at this point in God s creative activity the earth was yet unfashioned and uninhabited. the deep. Not a reference to the mythological Babylonian monster Tiamat, as has been alleged, but simply waters. hovering over. I.e., in the sense of protecting and participating in the creative work (the same Hebrew word is used in Deut. 32:). :3 light. Not the sun (which was created on the fourth day, v. 6), but some fixed light source outside the earth. In reference to that light, the rotating earth passed through a day-night cycle. :4 God separated. The first of three separations. Here, light from darkness; then sky from water (v. 7); and finally, the land from the seas (v. 9). Only when this spatial separation was complete did God pronounce everything good (v. 0). He called the finished creation very good (v. 3). :5 And there was evening and there was morning, the first day (better, day one). Later Jewish reckoning began the day with eventide (Lev. 23:32). That may be the reason for the order here, or it may simply mean that one day-night cycle was completed. Since daytime closes at evening and the night ends with the morning, the phrase indicates that the first day and night had been completed. Evening and morning cannot be construed to mean an age, but only a day; everywhere in the Pentateuch the word day, when used (as here) with a numerical adjective, means a solar day (now calibrated as 24 hours). :6 an expanse. From a verb meaning to beat out and spread out ; i.e., the open expanse of the heavens, which appeared as a vast canopy or tent above the earth. :7 the waters that were above. Apparently God suspended a vast body of water in vapor form over the earth, making a canopy that caused conditions on the earth to resemble those inside a greenhouse. This may account for the longevity of human life (Gen. 5) and for the tremendous amount of water involved in the worldwide flood (Gen. 6-9). :0 God called. The act of naming this and other parts of the creation was, in the Semitic world, an evidence of lordship (cf. 2 Kings 23:34). Note the significance of this in 2:9. : according to its kind. There are fixed boundaries beyond which reproductive variations cannot go, but it is impossible to know whether kind is to be equated with families, genera, or some other category of biological classification. 3
G e n e s i s : 2 4 to its kind, on the earth. And it was so. 2 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 3 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. 4 And God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for i signs and for j seasons, and for days and years, 5 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth. And it was so. 6 And God k made the two great lights the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night and the stars. 7 And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 8 to l rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 9 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day. 20 And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds 2 fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens. 2 So m God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its 4 i Jer. 0:2; Ezek. 32:7, 8; Joel 2:30, 3; 3:5; Matt. 24:29; Luke 2:25 j Ps. 04:9 6 k Deut. 4:9; Ps. 36:7-9 8 l Jer. 3:35 2 m Ps. 04:25, 26 22 n ch. 8:7; 9: 26 o ch. 3:22; :7; Isa. 6:8 p ch. 5:; 9:6; Cor. :7; Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:0; James 3:9 q ch. 9:2; Ps. 8:6-8; James 3:7 27 r ch. 2:8, 2-23; 5:2; Mal. 2:5; Matt. 9:4; Mark 0:6 28 s ch. 9:, 7 kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, n Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth. 23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day. 24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds. And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 26 Then God said, o Let us make man 3 in our image, p after our likeness. And q let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; r male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, s Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over Or appointed times 2 Or flying things; see Leviticus :9-20 3 The Hebrew word for man (adam) is the generic term for mankind and becomes the proper name Adam :4-9 The light source of the first day was replaced by the sun and moon. Their purposes were to distinguish day and night, to be signs (by which men get their bearings, as well as signs of judgment, Matt. 24:29), to mark off the seasons, and to give light to the earth. :2 good. I.e., beautiful and in perfect ecological balance. :24 livestock. I.e., large, domesticated quadrupeds. creeping things. I.e., creatures that move on the earth or close to it, having no legs or, at best, only short ones (e.g., worms, insects, and reptiles). :26 Us... Our. Plurals of majesty. image... likeness. Interchangeable terms (5:3) indicating that man was created in a natural and moral likeness to God. When he sinned, he lost the moral likeness, which was his sinlessness, but the natural likeness of intellect, emotions, and will he still retains (cf. 9:6; James 3:9). :27 man. The word is used generically here, then amplified by the phrase male and female (although Eve s physical formation is not detailed until 2:8-23). :28 fill. The word cannot be used to support the idea of a refilling of the earth after destruction of an earlier civilization, as some theories hold. subdue... have dominion. Man, as God s
5 the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. t You shall have them for food. 30 And u to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food. And it was so. 3v 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. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and w all the host of them. 2 And x on 2 the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. C. The Beginnings of Man and Woman, 2:4-25 4 y These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens. 29 t ch. 9:3; Ps. 04:4, 5; 45:5, 6 30 u Ps. 47:9 3 v Eccles. 7:29; Tim. 4:4 Chapter 2 w Deut. 4:9; Ps. 33:6 2 x Ex. 20:8-; 3:7; Deut. 5:2-4; Heb. 4:4 4 y ch. : 5 z [ch. :, 2] a ch. 3:23 7 b ch. 3:9, 23; 8:27; Ps. 03:4; Eccles. 2:7; Cor. 5:47 c ch. 7:22; Job 33:4; Isa. 2:22 d Job 27:3 e Cited Cor. 5:45 8 f ver. 5; ch. 3:0; Isa. 5:3; Ezek. 28:3; 3:8; Joel 2:3 9 g ch. 3:22; Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 4 h ver. 7 i ch. 0:7, 29; 25:8; Sam. 5:7 4 j Dan. 0:4 G e n e s i s 2 : 4 5 When no z bush of the field was yet in the land 2 and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man a to work the ground, 6 and a mist 3 was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground 7 then the Lord God formed the man of b dust from the ground and c breathed into his d nostrils the breath of life, and e the man became a living creature. 8 And the Lord God planted a f garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. g The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, h and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 0 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of i Havilah, where there is gold. 2 And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there. 3 The name of the second river is the Gihon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Cush. 4 And the name of the third river is the j Tigris, which flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. Or open country 2 Or earth; also verse 6 3 Or spring representative, is to rule the earth. But when he sinned, he lost the ability to do that fully. (Notice that this part of his commission is not repeated in 9:.) See the note on Heb. 2:8 for a summary. :29 Man was not given meat to eat until after the Flood (9:3). 2: all the host. In Neh. 9:6, the same Hebrew word depicts stars ; and in Kings 22:9, it refers to angels. Here, it probably means simply all the things that God created. 2:2 He rested. I.e., He ceased or desisted from His work. No weariness is implied. The Hebrew word is sabbath, the name of the day that later was given to Israel as a time of cessation from normal activities (Ex. 6:29; 20:0-; Deut. 5:5; Jer. 7:2; Amos 8:5). 2:4 in the day. The creation week is not specified as a single day by this phrase; rather, without the article the, it means at the time. the Lord. Lit., YHWH (probably pronounced Yahweh ), the most significant name for God in the OT. It has a twofold meaning: the active, self-existent One (since the word is connected with the verb meaning to be, Ex. 3:4); and Israel s Redeemer (Ex. 6:6). The name occurs 6,823 times in the OT and is especially associated with God s holiness (Lev. :44-45), His hatred of sin (Gen. 6:3-7), and His gracious provision of redemption (Isa. 53:, 5, 6, 0). 2:5 This sentence may begin at verse 4b: In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no bush of the field was as yet in the land... The kind of plants referred to here are those requiring cultivation, which (though green plants appeared the third day, :-2) did not grow until after there was a man to take care of them. 2:6 mist. Probably caused by daily evaporation and condensation, which occurred because of the change in temperature between daytime and nighttime. Cf. note on :7. 2:7 Man s body was formed from small particles of the earth (the Hebrew words for man and earth are similar; cf. Cor. 5:47), but his life came from the breath of God. a living creature. I.e., a living person. The phrase is also used of animals (:2, 24). Man is distinguished from animals by being created in the image of God. 2:8 in Eden, in the east. Apparently somewhere in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), since two of the four rivers in its vicinity are the well-known Tigris and Euphrates (v. 4). Eden means delight. 2:9 The tree of life... and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were two actual trees to which God gave special significance. 2: The exact locations are not certain. 2:2 bdellium. A precious gum resin. onyx. A nontransparent variety of agate.
G e n e s i s 2 : 5 6 5 The Lord God took the man k and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 6 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 7 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil l you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you m shall surely die. 8 Then the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; n I will make him a helper fit for 2 him. 9o Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed 3 every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and p brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam 4 there was not found a helper fit for him. 2 So the Lord God caused a q deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. 22 And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made 5 into a woman and brought her to the man. 23 Then the man said, This at last is r bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was s taken out of Man. 6 24t Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. 5 k ver. 8 7 l ch. 3:-3,, 7 m Rom. 6:23; James :5 8 n Cor. :9; Tim. 2:3 9 o ch. :20, 24 p Ps. 8:6 2 q ch. 5:2; Sam. 26:2 23 r ch. 29:4; Judg. 9:2; 2 Sam. 5:; 9:3; [Eph. 5:28-30] s Cor. :8 24 t Cited Matt. 9:5; Mark 0:7; Cor. 6:6; Eph. 5:3; [Ps. 45:0; Cor. 7:0, ] Chapter 3 u Matt. 0:6; 2 Cor. :3; Rev. 2:9; 20:2 3 v ch. 2:7 4 w ver. 3; John 8:44; [2 Cor. :3] 6 x Tim. 2:4 y ver. 2, 7; Hos. 6:7 7 z ver. 5 a ch. 2:25 8 b [Ps. 39:-2; Jer. 23:23, 24] II. The Sin of Man, 3:-24 A. The Temptation, 3:-7 3 Now u the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, Did God actually say, You 7 shall not eat of any tree in the garden? 2 And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, v You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. 4w But the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. 6 So 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 to be desired to make one wise, 8 she took of its fruit x and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, y and he ate. 7z Then the eyes of both were opened, a and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. B. The Judgments, 3:8-24 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool 9 of the day, and the man and his wife b hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the Or when you eat 2 Or corresponding to; also verse 20 3 Or And out of the ground the Lord God formed 4 Or the man 5 Hebrew built 6 The Hebrew words for woman (ishshah) and man (ish) sound alike 7 In Hebrew you is plural in verses -5 8 Or to give insight 9 Hebrew wind 2:5-20 God told Adam to do four things: () work the garden; (2) keep it, i.e., guard its sanctity; (3) eat its fruit, except the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil but apparently including the fruit of the tree of life; (4) name the animals. 2:8 a helper fit for him. I.e., his counterpart (cf. Cor. :9). 2:20 gave names. See note on :0. 2:2-22 ribs. Though elsewhere the Hebrew word means side, here it means rib (and doubtless includes the surrounding flesh, cf. v. 23). The NT understands this as actual, factual history. 2:23 Woman. Heb., ishshah, similar to ish (man), reflecting the fact that woman was derived from man (though the word itself may come from a root meaning to be soft ). 2:24 This verse emphasizes the complete identification of the two personalities in marriage. The passage tells us that God instituted marriage and that it is to be monogamous, heterosexual, and the complete union of the two persons. Jesus added that it is to be permanent (cf. Mark 0:7-9). 2:25 They felt no shame until they sinned (3:7). 3: the serpent. Apparently a beautiful creature, in its uncursed state, that Satan used in the temptation. more crafty. I.e., clever, not in a degrading sense at this point. He said. Satan spoke through the serpent. Perhaps Eve did not realize that animals could not speak; at any rate, she was not alarmed. of any tree in the garden. The question was designed to suggest that God was not good and fair because He restricted the eating of the fruit of one of the trees. 3:6 The three areas of Eve s self-deception are in the same categories of temptation as those found in John 2:6. Eve was deceived; Adam ate knowingly (cf. Tim. 2:4). Their sin was more than merely eating forbidden fruit; it was disobeying the revealed word of God, believing the lie of Satan, and placing their own wills above God s. Sin, with all its dreadful consequences, now entered the human race and the world in general. See note on Rom. 5:2. 3:7 A keen sense of guilt immediately followed the act of sinning. 3:8 They hid themselves. Their intimate fellowship with God was broken.
7 man and said to him, Where are you? 0 And he said, I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, c because I was naked, and I hid myself. He said, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat? 2 The man said, d The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate. 3 Then the Lord God said to the woman, What is this that you have done? The woman said, e The serpent deceived me, and I ate. 4 The Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and f dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 5 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring 2 and g her offspring; h he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. 6 To the woman he said, I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; i in pain you shall bring forth children. j Your desire shall be for 3 your husband, and he shall k rule over you. 7 And to Adam he said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree 0 c ver. 7; ch. 2:25 2 d ch. 2:8; Job 3:33 3 e ver. 4; 2 Cor. :3; Tim. 2:4 4 f Isa. 65:25; Mic. 7:7 5 g Isa. 7:4; Mic. 5:3; Matt. :23, 25; Luke :34, 35; Gal. 4:4; Tim. 2:5 h Rom. 6:20; Heb. 2:4; Rev. 20:-3, 0 6 i [John 6:2] j ch. 4:7; Song 7:0 k Cor. :3; 4:34; Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:8; Tim. 2:, 2; Titus 2:5; Pet. 3:, 5, 6 7 l ch. 2:7 m ch. 5:29; [Rom. 8:20-22] n Eccles. 2:22, 23 9 o ch. 2:7; Ps. 03:4 p Job 34:5; Ps. 04:29; Eccles. 3:20; 2:7; Rom. 5:2 22 q ver. 5 r ch. 2:9 23 s ch. 2:5 24 t Ps. 8:0; 04:4; Heb. :7; [Ex. 25:8-22; Ezek. 28:-6] G e n e s i s 4 : 2 l of which I commanded you, You shall not eat of it, m cursed is the ground because of you; n in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 8 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 9 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; o for you are dust, and p to dust you shall return. 20 The man called his wife s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 4 2 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. 22 Then the Lord God said, q Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand r and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden s to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the t cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. III. The Beginnings of Civilization, 4:-5:32 A. Cain and His Descendants, 4:-24 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, I have gotten 5 4 a man with the help of the Lord. 2 And again, In Hebrew you is singular in verses 9 and 2 Hebrew seed; so throughout Genesis 3 Or against 4 Eve sounds like the Hebrew for life-giver and resembles the word for living 5 Cain sounds like the Hebrew for gotten 3:4 The entire animal kingdom was affected by man s fall (cf. Jer. 2:4; Rom. 8:20), but the serpent s very form and movements were altered, and he was humbled (dust you shall eat is a symbol of humiliation, not an item of diet; cf. Mic. 7:7; Isa. 65:25). 3:5 between your offspring (the spiritual descendants of Satan; cf. John 8:44; Eph. 2:2) and her offspring (those who are in the family of God). He. An individual from among the woman s seed, namely, Christ, will deal a death blow to Satan s head at the cross, while Satan (you) will bruise Christ s heel (cause Him to suffer). 3:6 Women were condemned to suffer in childbearing. See note on Tim. 2:5. Your desire may mean that the wife would have a deep attraction to her husband, perhaps to compensate for the sorrow of childbirth. Or this may mean that her desire would be to rule her husband. See 4:7, where the same word is used in this sense of ruling. he shall rule over you. See Eph. 5:23. 3:7-9 Man is condemned to exhausting labor in order to make a living, because of a curse on the ground. (Adam worked before his fall.) 3:20 Eve = life or life-producer. 3:2 The garments of skins were God s provision for restoring Adam s and Eve s fellowship with Himself and imply slaying of an animal in order to provide them. 3:22-24 Driving Adam and Eve from the garden was both a punishment and an act of mercy, lest they should eat of the tree of life and live forever in a state of death and alienation. cherubim. Angels who guard the holiness of God. See notes on Ezek. :5 and Rev. 4:6. 4: knew. Lit., had relations. A common euphemism for sexual relations. In Hebrew, Cain (qayin) and I have gotten (qaniti) represent a play on words. Therefore the meaning of Cain may be gotten. It could also mean spear.
G e n e s i s 4 : 3 8 she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of u the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of v the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord w had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but x for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. 6 The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? 7y If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. z Its desire is for 2 you, but you must rule over it. 8 Cain spoke to Abel his brother. 3 And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and a killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, Where is Abel your brother? He said, b I do not know; am I my brother s keeper? 0 And the Lord said, What have you done? The voice of your brother s blood c is crying to me from the ground. And now d you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother s blood from your hand. 2 When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. 3 Cain said to the Lord, My e punishment is greater than I can bear. 4 4 Behold, f you have driven me today away from the ground, and g from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, h and whoever finds me will kill me. 5 Then the Lord said to him, Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him i sevenfold. And the Lord j put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. 6 Then Chapter 4 3 u Lev. 2:2; Num. 8:2 4 v Ex. 3:2; Num. 8:7; Prov. 3:9 w Heb. :4 5 x [Prov. 2:27] 7 y Eccles. 8:2, 3; Isa. 3:0, ; Rom. 2:6- z ch. 3:6 8 a Matt. 23:35; Heb. 2:24; John 3:2; Jude 9 b John 8:44 0 c Heb. 2:24; [Rev. 6:0] d Deut. 27:24; [Num. 35:33] 3 e ch. 9:5 4 f Job 5:20-24 g 2 Kgs. 24:20; Ps. 5:; 43:7; Jer. 52:3 h ch. 9:6; Num. 35:9 5 i Ps. 79:2 j [Ezek. 9:4, 6; Rev. 4:9, ] 24 k ver. 5 26 l Chr. :; Luke 3:38 Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod, 5 east of Eden. 7 Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. 8 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. 9 And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. 20 Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. 2 His brother s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. 22 Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah. 23 Lamech said to his wives: Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. 24 k If Cain s revenge is sevenfold, then Lamech s is seventy-sevenfold. B. Seth, 4:25-26 25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, God has appointed 6 for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him. 26 To l Seth also a son was born, and he called Hebrew will there not be a lifting up [of your face]? 2 Or against 3 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate add Let us go out to the field 4 Or My guilt is too great to bear 5 Nod means wandering 6 Seth sounds like the Hebrew for he appointed 4:2 Abel means breath or vanity, reflecting perhaps Eve s understanding of the import of the curse (Rom. 8:20). 4:3-4 of the fruit of the ground. A bloodless offering was not necessarily inappropriate (cf. Lev. 2:, 4, 4, 5); it was Cain s attitude of unbelief that displeased God. See note on Heb. :4. fat was the richest part of the animal. 4:7 Cain is promised restored fellowship if he does well; but, if not, the effects of sin are ready to pounce (is crouching) on him. Sin is pictured as a demon ready to pounce on Cain to enslave him. 4:8 See John 3:2. 4:9 Cain s response was an outright lie and showed indifference to the murder he had committed. 4:0 your brother s blood is crying to Me. I.e., for vengeance. 4:5 And the Lord put a mark on Cain. Not some kind of physical mark on Cain, but a sign to reassure him of God s gracious protection of his life. 4:6 Nod means wandering, exile. It was an area east of Eden. 4:7 his wife. Obviously a daughter of Adam (cf. 5:4). She may have been Cain s sister, niece, or even grandniece. Since Adam s and Eve s genetic systems had no mutant genes in them, such a marriage would not be dangerous as it is today. Enoch means consecration or initiation, a new beginning for Cain. city. Lit., a permanent settlement, perhaps an attempt on Cain s part to neutralize God s curse on him (v. 2). This was not necessarily the first city or settlement. 4:9 This bigamy was the first recorded violation of God s pattern of monogamy. 4:23-24 Lamech had killed someone who tried to kill him; now he was boasting that if anyone should try to avenge the murder he would take care of himself seventy-sevenfold without any help from God such as Cain received. 4:25 Seth means He appointed, the substitute (for slain Abel).
9 his name m Enosh. At that time people began n to call upon the name of the Lord. C. Adam to Noah, 5:-32 This is the book of the generations of 5 Adam. When God created man, o he made him in the likeness of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 30 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and p named him Seth. 4q The days of Adam after he fathered Seth were 800 years; and he had other sons and daughters. 5 Thus all the days that Adam lived were 930 years, r and he died. 6 When Seth had lived 05 years, s he fathered Enosh. 7 Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters. 8 Thus all the days of Seth were 92 years, and he died. 9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan. 0 Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 85 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died. 2 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel. 3 Kenan lived after he fathered Mahalalel 840 years and had other sons and daughters. 4 Thus all the days of Kenan were 90 years, and he died. 26 m ch. 5:6 n Ps. 6:7; Zeph. 3:9; Zech. 3:9 Chapter 5 o See ch. :26, 27 3 p ch. 4:25 4 q For ver. 4-32, see Chr. :-4; Luke 3:36-38 5 r ch. 3:9 6 s ch. 4:26 8 t Jude 4 22 u ver. 24; ch. 6:9; [Mic. 6:8; Mal. 2:6] 24 u [See ver. 22 above] v Heb. :5; [2 Kgs. 2:] 29 w ch. 3:7 G e n e s i s 5 : 2 9 5 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared. 6 Mahalalel lived after he fathered Jared 830 years and had other sons and daughters. 7 Thus all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died. 8 When Jared had lived 62 years he fathered t Enoch. 9 Jared lived after he fathered Enoch 800 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 Thus all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died. 2 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch u walked with God 2 after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch u walked with God, and he was not, 3 v for God took him. 25 When Methuselah had lived 87 years, he fathered Lamech. 26 Methuselah lived after he fathered Lamech 782 years and had other sons and daughters. 27 Thus all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died. 28 When Lamech had lived 82 years, he fathered a son 29 and called his name Noah, saying, Out of the ground w that the Lord has cursed this one shall bring us relief 4 from our work and from the painful toil of our hands. Hebrew adam 2 Septuagint pleased God 3 Septuagint was not found 4 Noah sounds like the Hebrew for rest 5: This is the book... Cf. 2:4; 6:9; 0:; :0, 27; 25:2, 9; 36:; 37:2 for other occurrences of this phrase. It may refer to the written source that Moses used in composing Genesis. 5:3 his own likeness. Now sinful, in contrast to Gen. :26. Each reference to a patriarch gives four details: () his name, (2) his age at the birth of his first son, (3) the length of his remaining life, and (4) his age at death. There are variations in the cases of Adam (v. 3), Enoch (vv. 22, 24), and Lamech (vv. 28-29). The longevity of the patriarchs (averaging 92 years, not including Enoch who did not die) may have been due to the vapor canopy (see note on :7), which was not dispersed until the Flood, or simply to the fact that it took some time for the effects of sin to shorten man s life span. If there are no gaps in this chronology, then,656 years elapsed between creation and the Flood. It is likely, however, that the genealogy is selective, resulting in gaps in the list and pushing the date of creation farther back. 5:22-24 Enoch is an exception to the dismal refrain ( and he died ) of this chapter. He walked (lit., walked about, i.e., lived) with God, and instead of letting him die, God took him (the same Hebrew word is used for the translation of Elijah, 2 Kings 2:3, 5; cf. Heb. :5). In other words, Enoch went directly to heaven without dying, as will believers who are alive at the Rapture ( Thess. 4:7). See also note on Jude 4. 5:29 shall bring us relief. I.e., by preserving a remnant in the ark. Christ would eventually come and give ultimate victory over the curse.
G e n e s i s 5 : 3 0 0 30 Lamech lived after he fathered Noah 595 years and had other sons and daughters. 3 Thus all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died. 32 After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered x Shem, Ham, and y Japheth. IV. The History of Noah, 6:-9:29 A. The Causes of the Flood, 6:-3 When man began to multiply on the face 6 of the land and daughters were born to them, 2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. 3 Then the Lord said, z My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, a for he is flesh: his days shall be 20 years. 4 The Nephilim 2 were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. 5b The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every c intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And d the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it e grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have 32 x ch. 6:0 y ch. 0:2 Chapter 6 3 z Pet. 3:9, 20; [Neh. 9:30; Gal. 5:6, 7] a Ps. 78:39 5 b Ps. 4:2, 3 c ch. 8:2; Job 4:4; 5:4; Ps. 5:5; Jer. 7:9; Matt. 5:9; Rom. 3:23 6 d Sam. 5:; 2 Sam. 24:6; Joel 2:3; [Num. 23:9; Sam. 5:29] e Isa. 63:0; Eph. 4:30 8 f ch. 9:9; Ex. 33:2, 3, 6, 7 9 g ch. 7:; Ezek. 4:4, 20; 2 Pet. 2:5 h Job :, 8; Luke :6 i ch. 5:22, 24; [Heb. :7] 2 j Ps. 4:2, 3; 53:2, 3 k Job 22:5-7 3 l Ezek. 7:2, 3, 6 7 m ch. 7:4; 2 Pet. 2:5 8 n ch. 9:9, made them. 8 But Noah f found favor in the eyes of the Lord. 9 These are the generations of Noah. g Noah was a righteous man, h blameless in his generation. Noah i walked with God. 0 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Now the earth was corrupt in God s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 2 And God j saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, k for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. 3 And God said to Noah, l I have determined to make an end of all flesh, 3 for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth. B. The Course of the Flood, 6:4-8:9 4 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. 4 Make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 5 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark 300 cubits, 5 its breadth 50 cubits, and its height 30 cubits. 6 Make a roof 6 for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above, and set the door of the ark in its side. Make it with lower, second, and third decks. 7m For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die. 8 But n I will establish my covenant Or My Spirit shall not contend with 2 Or giants 3 Hebrew The end of all flesh has come before me 4 An unknown kind of tree; transliterated from Hebrew 5 A cubit was about 8 inches or 45 centimeters 6 Or skylight 6: The earth s population grew rapidly because of human longevity. 6:2 the sons of God. Possibly () the godly line of Seth, (2) ungodly kings and kinglets of that day, or, more likely, (3) a group of fallen angels who, because of this unique sin, were confined. See notes on 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. The phrase sons of God is used in the OT almost exclusively of angels (Job :6; 2:; 38:7). they took as their wives. Angels do not procreate after their kind (Mark 2:25), but if these were angels, they did on this unique occasion cohabit with human women to produce human offspring. 6:3 My Spirit shall not abide in man forever. Two interpretations are possible: () the reference is to the Holy Spirit striving in the sense of judging or executing judgment on mankind for its sinfulness; (2) the human spirit that God placed in human beings would not always abide (i.e., mankind was doomed to death). God would give man 20 years before the judgment of the Flood would fall. 6:4 Nephilim. From a root meaning to fall ; i.e., to fall upon others because these individuals were men of strength (only other use of this Hebrew word is in Num. 3:33). Evidently they were in the earth before the marriages of Gen. 6:2 and were not the offspring of those marriages from which came the mighty men (military men) and men of renown (of wealth or power). 6:8 favor or grace. Heb., chen, from a root meaning to bend or stoop, thus condescending or unmerited favor of a superior person to an inferior one. It is sometimes used redemptively (Jer. 3:2; Zech. 2:0). This is its first occurrence. Cf. the note on steadfast love (the other OT word for grace) on Hos. 2:9. 6:9 righteous... blameless I.e., mature or well-rounded, though not sinless. 6:4 gopher wood. Probably cypress or cedar. 6:5 Although we do not know for certain the length of the cubit mentioned here, later in history it was about 8 in. See note on 2 Chron. 32:30. A vessel of such dimensions would have a displacement of about 20,000 tons and gross tonnage of about 4,000 tons. Its carrying capacity equaled that of 522 standard railroad stock cars (each of which can hold 240 sheep). Only 88 cars would be required to hold 45,000 sheep-sized animals, leaving three trains of 04 cars each for food, Noah s family, and range for the animals. Today it is estimated that there are 7,600 species of animals, making 45,000 a likely approximation of the number Noah might have taken into the ark. 6:6 roof (or opening). A space for light and air, measuring a cubit in height and running like a gallery around the top edge of the ark. 6:7 Though many do not believe in a worldwide flood, this verse indicates that it was (see also 7:9 and 2 Peter 3:6).
with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons wives with you. 9 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. 2 Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. 22o Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. 7 Then the Lord said to Noah, p Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that q you are righteous before me in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of all r clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, 3 and seven pairs 2 of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. 4 For in seven days s I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, t and every living thing 3 that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground. 5u And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. 6 Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters came upon the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him went into the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Of clean animals, and of animals that are not clean, and of birds, and of everything that creeps on the ground, 9 two and two, male and female, went into the ark with Noah, as God had commanded Noah. 0 And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the v fountains of the great deep burst forth, and w the windows of 22 o Heb. :7; [Ex. 40:6] Chapter 7 p Matt. 24:38, 39; Luke 7:26, 27; Heb. :7; Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5 q ch. 6:9 2 r ch. 8:20; [Lev. ] 4 s ver. 2, 7; [Job 37:-3] t ch. 6:7 5 u ch. 6:22 v ch. 8:2; Prov. 8:28; [Amos 9:6] w ch. 8:2; 2 Kgs. 7:9; Isa. 24:8; Mal. 3:0; [Ps. 78:23] 5 x ch. 6:20 6 y ver. 2, 3 7 z ver. 4, 2 2 a ver. 4; ch. 6:3, 7; 2 Pet. 3:6 22 b ch. 2:7 23 c 2 Pet. 2:5 Chapter 8 d ch. 9:29; 30:22; Ex. 2:24; Sam. :9 e Ex. 4:2 2 f ch. 7: G e n e s i s 8 : 2 the heavens were opened. 2 And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights. 3 On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah s wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, 4 they and every beast, according to its kind, and all the livestock according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, according to its kind, and every bird, according to its kind, every winged creature. 5 They x went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 6 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in y as God had commanded him. And the Lord shut him in. 7 The flood z continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 8 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 9 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits 4 deep. 2 And a all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land b in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only c Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 50 days. 8 But God d remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And e God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2f The Or seven of each kind of clean animal 2 Or seven of each kind 3 Hebrew all existence; also verse 23 4 A cubit was about 8 inches or 45 centimeters 7:2 clean... not clean. Here the distinction had to do with sacrifice (cf. 8:20), later with eating (Lev. ; Deut. 4). seven pairs. Lit., seven seven, which may mean seven pairs of the clean animals, or it may indicate three pairs plus one extra. 7:4 The duration of the rain assumes a vast store of moisture suspended above the earth. See note on :7. 7: the fountains of the great deep. Subterranean waters, as well as rain, contributed to the Flood. 7:9 under the whole heaven. Better, under all the heavens. The phrase indicates a universal flood rather than a local one. The promise of 9:, 5 confirms this. There are more than 270 flood stories from all parts of the world (see also 2 Peter 2:5; 3:6; Matt. 24:37-39). 7:24 The waters reached their highest point after 50 days, which period included the 40 days of constant rain (v. 2). 8: remembered. Not mere recall, but thinking about with loving concern.