And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
And her days to bear are fulfilled, and lo, twins are in her womb;
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.
Genesis — The book of beginnings. Creation, fall, flood, covenant, election, providence — eleven generational seams stitch one unbroken story from heaven-and-earth to a coffin in Egypt.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices3
"And her days were fulfilled," the text says, "that she should give birth, and there were twins in her womb." This statement, that is, "her days were fulfilled that she should give birth," is almost never written except of holy women. For this is said of this Rebekah and of Elizabeth the mother of John and of Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Whence a birth of this kind seems to me to show something extraordinary and beyond other human beings. The fulfillment of the days seems to indicate the birth of perfect offspring.
Origen of Alexandria· HOMILIES ON GENESIS 12.3, 253patristic
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled,.... The nine months were up from the time of her conception; or, as the Targum of Jonathan, when the two hundred and seventy days she went with child were completed: behold, there were twins in her womb; as was perceived by the midwife; a double mercy was granted, more given than asked for; probably only one child was asked for, but two given.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
There were twins - תומם thomim, from which comes Thomas, properly interpreted by the word Διδυμος, Didymus, which signifies a twin; so the first person who was called Thomas or Didymus, we may take for granted, had this name from the circumstance of his being a twin.
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible, 1832evangelical
The verses this one reaches5
Do not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his land.
and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I gave Esau Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
This is the account of Esau (that is, Edom).
When the time came for Tamar to give birth, there were twins in her womb.
Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.
