Genesis 16:2
2So Sarai said to Abram, “Since ▼▼ Heb “look.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) introduces the foundational clause for the imperative to follow.
the Lord has prevented me from having children, have sexual relations with ▼ ▼▼ The Hebrew expression translated have sexual relations with does not convey the intimacy of other expressions, such as “so and so knew his wife.” Sarai simply sees this as the social custom of having a child through a surrogate. For further discussion see C. F. Fensham, “The Son of a Handmaid in Northwest Semitic,” VT 19 (1969): 312-21.
my servant. Perhaps I can have a family by her.” ▼▼ Heb “perhaps I will be built from her.” Sarai hopes to have a family established through this surrogate mother.
Abram did what ▼▼ Heb “listened to the voice of,” which is an idiom meaning “obeyed.”
▼ Sarai told him.
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