Genesis 12:17

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases ¹  because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.

Genesis 12:20

12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, ²  and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Genesis 37:36

37:36 Now ³  in Egypt the Midianites ⁴  sold Joseph ⁵  to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard. ⁶ 

Genesis 40:21

40:21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his former position ⁷  so that he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand,

Genesis 41:1

Joseph’s Rise to Power

41:1 At the end of two full years ⁸  Pharaoh had a dream. ⁹  As he was standing by the Nile,

Genesis 41:4

41:4 The bad-looking, thin cows ate the seven fine-looking, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

Genesis 41:13

41:13 It happened just as he had said ¹⁰  to us – Pharaoh ¹¹  restored me to my office, but he impaled the baker.” ¹² 

Genesis 41:17

41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing ¹³  by the edge of the Nile.

Genesis 41:41

41:41 “See here,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I place ¹⁴  you in authority over all the land of Egypt.” ¹⁵ 

Genesis 45:17

45:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go ¹⁶  to the land of Canaan!

Genesis 47:25

47:25 They replied, “You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, ¹⁷  and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ¹⁸ 

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¹ tn The cognate accusative adds emphasis to the verbal sentence: “he plagued with great plagues,” meaning the Lord inflicted numerous plagues, probably diseases (see Exod 15:26). The adjective “great” emphasizes that the plagues were severe and overwhelming.

² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn The disjunctive clause formally signals closure for this episode of Joseph’s story, which will be resumed in Gen 39.

⁴ tc The MT spells the name of the merchants as מְדָנִים (mÿdanim, “Medanites”) rather than מִדְיָנִים (midyanim, “Midianites”) as in v. 28. It is likely that the MT is corrupt at this point, with the letter yod (י) being accidentally omitted. The LXX, Vulgate, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Syriac read “Midianites” here. Some prefer to read “Medanites” both here and in v. 28, but Judg 8:24, which identifies the Midianites and Ishmaelites, favors the reading “Midianites.”

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

⁶ sn The expression captain of the guard might indicate that Potiphar was the chief executioner.

⁷ tn Heb “his cupbearing.”

⁸ tn Heb “two years, days.”

⁹ tn Heb “was dreaming.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “interpreted.”

¹¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “him”; the referent (the baker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹³ tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.

¹⁴ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is descriptive of a present action. Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, in which case Pharaoh describes a still future action as if it had already occurred in order to emphasize its certainty. In this case one could translate “I have placed” or “I will place.” The verb נָתַן (natan) is translated here as “to place in authority [over].”

¹⁵ sn Joseph became the grand vizier of the land of Egypt. See W. A. Ward, “The Egyptian Office of Joseph,” JSS 5 (1960): 144-50; and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 129-31.

¹⁶ tn Heb “and go! Enter!”

¹⁷ tn Heb “we find favor in the eyes of my lord.” Some interpret this as a request, “may we find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

¹⁸ sn Slaves. See the note on this word in v. 21.