42:35 When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man’s bag of money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid.
42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may 47 put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care 48 and I will bring him back to you.”
43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. 49 Then we will live 50 and not die – we and you and our little ones.
44:30 “So now, when I return to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us – his very life is bound up in his son’s life. 51 44:31 When he sees the boy is not with us, 52 he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to the grave.
46:5 Then Jacob started out 60 from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.
47:1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land of
Canaan. They are now 62 in the land of Goshen.”
47:11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory 63 in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses, 64 just as Pharaoh had commanded.
49:25 because of the God of your father,
who will help you, 71
because of the sovereign God, 72
who will bless you 73
with blessings from the sky above,
blessings from the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and womb. 74
50:7 So Joseph went up to bury his father; all Pharaoh’s officials went with him – the senior courtiers 75 of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt, 50:8 all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.
50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad 76 on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. 77 There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.
50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay 78 us in full 79 for all the harm 80 we did to him?”
1 sn The name Sarai (a variant spelling of “Sarah”) means “princess” (or “lady”). Sharratu was the name of the wife of the moon god Sin. The original name may reflect the culture out of which the patriarch was called, for the family did worship other gods in Mesopotamia.
2 sn The name Milcah means “Queen.” But more to the point here is the fact that Malkatu was a title for Ishtar, the daughter of the moon god. If the women were named after such titles (and there is no evidence that this was the motivation for naming the girls “Princess” or “Queen”), that would not necessarily imply anything about the faith of the two women themselves.
3 sn The Hebrew verb translated “I have heard you” forms a wordplay with the name Ishmael, which means “God hears.” See the note on the name “Ishmael” in 16:11.
4 tn Heb “And I will multiply him exceedingly, exceedingly.” The repetition is emphatic.
5 tn For a discussion of the Hebrew word translated “princes,” see E. A. Speiser, “Background and Function of the Biblical Nasi’,” CBQ 25 (1963): 111-17.
6 tn Heb “and the firstborn said.”
7 tn Or perhaps “on earth,” in which case the statement would be hyperbolic; presumably there had been some men living in the town of Zoar to which Lot and his daughters had initially fled.
8 tn Heb “to enter upon us.” This is a euphemism for sexual relations.
9 tn Heb “drink wine.”
10 tn Heb “lied down with him.”
11 tn Heb “And he did not know when she lied down and when she arose.”
12 tn The Hebrew verb is plural. This may be a case of grammatical agreement with the name for God, which is plural in form. However, when this plural name refers to the one true God, accompanying predicates are usually singular in form. Perhaps Abraham is accommodating his speech to Abimelech’s polytheistic perspective. (See GKC 463 §145.i.) If so, one should translate, “when the gods made me wander.”
13 tn Heb “This is your loyal deed which you can do for me.”
14 tn The Hebrew verb גּוּר (gur) means “to live temporarily without ownership of land.” Abraham’s family will not actually possess the land of Canaan until the Israelite conquest hundreds of years later.
15 tn After the imperative “stay” the two prefixed verb forms with prefixed conjunction here indicate consequence.
sn I will be with you and I will bless you. The promise of divine presence is a promise to intervene to protect and to bless.
16 tn The Hebrew term זֶרַע (zera’) occurring here and in v. 18 may mean “seed” (for planting), “offspring” (occasionally of animals, but usually of people), or “descendants” depending on the context.
sn To you and to your descendants. The Abrahamic blessing will pass to Isaac. Everything included in that blessing will now belong to the son, and in turn will be passed on to his sons. But there is a contingency involved: If they are to enjoy the full blessings, they will have to obey the word of the
17 tn The Hiphil stem of the verb קוּם (qum) here means “to fulfill, to bring to realization.” For other examples of this use of this verb form, see Lev 26:9; Num 23:19; Deut 8:18; 9:5; 1 Sam 1:23; 1 Kgs 6:12; Jer 11:5.
18 tn Heb “the oath which I swore.”
sn The solemn promise I made. See Gen 15:18-20; 22:16-18.
19 tn Following the imperative, the cohortative (with the prefixed conjunction) indicates purpose or result.
20 tn Heb “get up and sit.” This may mean simply “sit up,” or it may indicate that he was to get up from his couch and sit at a table.
21 tn Heb “so that your soul may bless me.” These words, though not reported by Rebekah to Jacob (see v. 7) accurately reflect what Isaac actually said to Esau (see v. 4). Perhaps Jacob knew more than Rebekah realized, but it is more likely that this was an idiom for sincere blessing with which Jacob was familiar. At any rate, his use of the precise wording was a nice, convincing touch.
22 tn Heb “Arise! Go!” The first of the two imperatives is adverbial and stresses the immediacy of the departure.
23 tn Heb “the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac.” The Hebrew word for “father” can typically be used in a broader sense than the English word, in this case referring to Abraham (who was Jacob’s grandfather). For stylistic reasons and for clarity, the words “your father” are supplied with “Isaac” in the translation.
24 tn The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets) can mean “[the] earth,” “land,” “region,” “piece of ground,” or “ground” depending on the context. Here the term specifically refers to the plot of ground on which Jacob was lying, but at the same time this stands by metonymy for the entire land of Canaan.
25 tn Heb “drove,” but this is subject to misunderstanding in contemporary English.
26 tn Heb “and he led away all his cattle and all his moveable property which he acquired, the cattle he obtained, which he acquired in Paddan Aram to go to Isaac his father to the land of Canaan.”
27 tn Heb “she”; the referent (Rachel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “let it not be hot in the eyes of my lord.” This idiom refers to anger, in this case as a result of Rachel’s failure to stand in the presence of her father as a sign of respect.
29 tn Heb “I am unable to rise.”
30 tn Heb “the way of women is to me.” This idiom refers to a woman’s menstrual period.
31 tn The word “thoroughly” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
32 tn The words “he bought it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text v. 19 is one long sentence.
33 tn The Hebrew word קְשִׂיטָה (qÿsitah) is generally understood to refer to a unit of money, but the value is unknown. (However, cf. REB, which renders the term as “sheep”).
34 tn Heb “doing the thing.”
35 tn Heb “Jacob’s daughter.” The proper name “Dinah” is supplied in the translation for clarity.
36 tn The Hebrew verb כָּבֵד (kaved), translated “was…important,” has the primary meaning “to be heavy,” but here carries a secondary sense of “to be important” (that is, “heavy” in honor or respect).
37 tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause explains why the community would respond to him (see vv. 20-24).
38 tn Heb “arose, stood”; which here suggests that they stood by him in his time of grief.
39 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Indeed I will go down to my son mourning to Sheol.’” Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death.
40 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 tn Heb “she was being brought out and she sent.” The juxtaposition of two clauses, both of which place the subject before the predicate, indicates synchronic action.
42 tn Heb “who these to him.”
43 tn Or “ recognize; note.” This same Hebrew verb (נָכַר, nakhar) is used at the beginning of v. 26, where it is translated “recognized.”
44 tn Heb “twelve [were] your servants, brothers [are] we.”
45 tn Heb “today.”
46 tn Heb “and the one is not.”
47 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.
48 tn Heb “my hand.”
49 tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”
50 tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.
51 tn Heb “his life is bound up in his life.”
52 tn Heb “when he sees that there is no boy.”
53 tn Heb “hurry and go up.”
54 tn After the imperatives in vv. 17-18a, the cohortative with vav indicates result.
55 tn After the cohortative the imperative with vav states the ultimate goal.
56 tn Heb “fat.”
57 tn The words “to say” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
58 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
59 tn Heb “the God.”
60 tn Heb “arose.”
61 tn Heb “and he appeared to him.”
62 tn Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.
63 tn Heb “a possession,” or “a holding.” Joseph gave them a plot of land with rights of ownership in the land of Goshen.
64 sn The land of Rameses is another designation for the region of Goshen. It is named Rameses because of a city in that region (Exod 1:11; 12:37). The use of this name may represent a modernization of the text for the understanding of the intended readers, substituting a later name for an earlier one. Alternatively, there may have been an earlier Rameses for which the region was named.
65 tn Heb “heavy.”
sn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story. The weakness of Israel’s sight is one of several connections between this chapter and Gen 27. Here there are two sons, and it appears that the younger is being blessed over the older by a blind old man. While it was by Jacob’s deception in chap. 27, here it is with Jacob’s full knowledge.
66 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
67 tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
68 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
69 tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”
70 tn Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
71 tn Heb “and he will help you.”
72 tn Heb “Shaddai.” See the note on the title “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. The preposition אֵת (’et) in the Hebrew text should probably be emended to אֵל (’el, “God”).
73 tn Heb “and he will bless you.”
74 sn Jacob envisions God imparting both agricultural (blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to Joseph and his family.
75 tn Or “dignitaries”; Heb “elders.”
76 sn The location of the threshing floor of Atad is not certain. The expression the other side of the Jordan could refer to the eastern or western bank, depending on one’s perspective. However, it is commonly used in the OT for Transjordan. This would suggest that the entourage came up the Jordan Valley and crossed into the land at Jericho, just as the Israelites would in the time of Joshua.
77 tn Heb “and they mourned there [with] very great and heavy mourning.” The cognate accusative, as well as the two adjectives and the adverb, emphasize the degree of their sorrow.
78 tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.
79 tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”
80 tn Or “evil.”