Genesis 1:12

1:12 The land produced vegetation – plants yielding seeds according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:21

1:21 God created the great sea creatures ¹  and every living and moving thing with which the water swarmed, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 1:25

1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the cattle according to their kinds, and all the creatures that creep along the ground according to their kinds. God saw that it was good.

Genesis 20:3

20:3 But God appeared ²  to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are as good as dead ³  because of the woman you have taken, for she is someone else’s wife.” ⁴ 

Genesis 39:6

39:6 So Potiphar ⁵  left ⁶  everything he had in Joseph’s care; ⁷  he gave no thought ⁸  to anything except the food he ate. ⁹ 

Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 41:24

41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this ¹¹  to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” ¹² 

Genesis 41:35

41:35 They should gather all the excess food ¹³  during these good years that are coming. By Pharaoh’s authority ¹⁴  they should store up grain so the cities will have food, ¹⁵  and they should preserve it. ¹⁶ 

Genesis 44:4

44:4 They had not gone very far from the city ¹⁷  when Joseph said ¹⁸  to the servant who was over his household, “Pursue the men at once! ¹⁹  When you overtake ²⁰  them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ²¹  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ²² 

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¹ tn For the first time in the narrative proper the verb “create” (בָּרָא, bara’) appears. (It is used in the summary statement of v. 1.) The author wishes to underscore that these creatures – even the great ones – are part of God’s perfect creation. The Hebrew term תַנִּינִם (tanninim) is used for snakes (Exod 7:9), crocodiles (Ezek 29:3), or other powerful animals (Jer 51:34). In Isa 27:1 the word is used to describe a mythological sea creature that symbolizes God’s enemies.

² tn Heb “came.”

³ tn Heb “Look, you [are] dead.” The Hebrew construction uses the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with a second person pronominal particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) with by the participle. It is a highly rhetorical expression.

⁴ tn Heb “and she is owned by an owner.” The disjunctive clause is causal or explanatory in this case.

⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁶ sn The Hebrew verb translated left indicates he relinquished the care of it to Joseph. This is stronger than what was said earlier. Apparently Potiphar had come to trust Joseph so much that he knew it was in better care with Joseph than with anyone else.

⁷ tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.

⁸ tn Heb “did not know.”

⁹ sn The expression except the food he ate probably refers to Potiphar’s private affairs and should not be limited literally to what he ate.

¹⁰ tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.

¹¹ tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹² tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”

¹³ tn Heb “all the food.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “under the hand of Pharaoh.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “[for] food in the cities.” The noun translated “food” is an adverbial accusative in the sentence.

¹⁶ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the sequence of jussives before it.

¹⁷ tn Heb “they left the city, they were not far,” meaning “they had not gone very far.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “and Joseph said.” This clause, like the first one in the verse, has the subject before the verb, indicating synchronic action.

¹⁹ tn Heb “arise, chase after the men.” The first imperative gives the command a sense of urgency.

²⁰ tn After the imperative this perfect verbal form with vav consecutive has the same nuance of instruction. In the translation it is subordinated to the verbal form that follows (also a perfect with vav consecutive): “and overtake them and say,” becomes “when you overtake them, say.”

²¹ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

²² tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”