17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, 1 the Lord appeared to him and said, 2 “I am the sovereign God. 3 Walk 4 before me 5 and be blameless. 6
41:14 Then Pharaoh summoned 15 Joseph. So they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; he shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came before Pharaoh.
43:15 So the men took these gifts, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they hurried down to Egypt 19 and stood before Joseph.
43:26 When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, 20 and they bowed down to the ground before him.
44:14 So Judah and his brothers 23 came back to Joseph’s house. He was still there, 24 and they threw themselves to the ground before him.
45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him because they were dumbfounded before him.
“By you 25 will Israel bless, 26 saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 27
49:8 Judah, 28 your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down before you.
1 tn Heb “the son of ninety-nine years.”
2 tn Heb “appeared to Abram and said to him.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) and the final phrase “to him” has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
3 tn The name אֵל שַׁדַּי (’el shadday, “El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72. Shaddai/El Shaddai is the sovereign king of the world who grants, blesses, and judges. In the Book of Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness. The patriarchs knew God primarily as El Shaddai (Exod 6:3). While the origin and meaning of this name are uncertain (see discussion below) its significance is clear. The name is used in contexts where God appears as the source of fertility and life. In Gen 17:1-8 he appeared to Abram, introduced himself as El Shaddai, and announced his intention to make the patriarch fruitful. In the role of El Shaddai God repeated these words (now elevated to the status of a decree) to Jacob (35:11). Earlier Isaac had pronounced a blessing on Jacob in which he asked El Shaddai to make Jacob fruitful (28:3). Jacob later prayed that his sons would be treated with mercy when they returned to Egypt with Benjamin (43:14). The fertility theme is not as apparent here, though one must remember that Jacob viewed Benjamin as the sole remaining son of the favored and once-barren Rachel (see 29:31; 30:22-24; 35:16-18). It is quite natural that he would appeal to El Shaddai to preserve Benjamin’s life, for it was El Shaddai’s miraculous power which made it possible for Rachel to give him sons in the first place. In 48:3 Jacob, prior to blessing Joseph’s sons, told him how El Shaddai appeared to him at Bethel (see Gen 28) and promised to make him fruitful. When blessing Joseph on his deathbed Jacob referred to Shaddai (we should probably read “El Shaddai,” along with a few Hebrew
4 tn Or “Live out your life.” The Hebrew verb translated “walk” is the Hitpael; it means “to walk back and forth; to walk about; to live out one’s life.”
5 tn Or “in my presence.”
6 tn There are two imperatives here: “walk…and be blameless [or “perfect”].” The second imperative may be purely sequential (see the translation) or consequential: “walk before me and then you will be blameless.” How one interprets the sequence depends on the meaning of “walk before”: (1) If it simply refers in a neutral way to serving the
7 tn The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) means “to lie down, to recline,” that is, “to go to bed.” Here what appears to be an imperfect is a preterite after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem). The nuance of potential (perfect) fits well.
8 tn Heb “and the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the young to the old, all the people from the end [of the city].” The repetition of the phrase “men of” stresses all kinds of men.
9 tn The Hebrew participle expresses an imminent action here.
10 tn Heb “for their outcry.” The words “about this place” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “the
12 tn Heb “his city”; the referent (Ephron) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
sn See G. M. Tucker, “The Legal Background of Genesis 23,” JBL 85 (1966):77-84; and M. R. Lehmann, “Abraham’s Purchase of Machpelah and Hittite Law,” BASOR 129 (1953): 15-18.
13 tn Following the imperatives, the jussive with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose or result.
14 tn Heb “as the
15 tn Heb “and Pharaoh sent and called,” indicating a summons to the royal court.
16 tn Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”
17 tn Heb “took Simeon.” This was probably done at Joseph’s command, however; the grand vizier of Egypt would not have personally seized a prisoner.
18 tn Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”
19 tn Heb “they arose and went down to Egypt.” The first verb has an adverbial function and emphasizes that they departed right away.
20 tn Heb “into the house.”
21 tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”
22 sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.
23 sn Judah and his brothers. The narrative is already beginning to bring Judah to the forefront.
24 tn The disjunctive clause here provides supplemental information.
25 tn The pronoun is singular in the Hebrew text, apparently elevating Ephraim as the more prominent of the two. Note, however, that both are named in the blessing formula that follows.
26 tn Or “pronounce a blessing.”
27 sn On the elevation of Ephraim over Manasseh see E. C. Kingsbury, “He Set Ephraim Before Manasseh,” HUCA 38 (1967): 129-36; H. Mowvley, “The Concept and Content of ‘Blessing’ in the Old Testament,” BT 16 (1965): 74-80; and I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” BASOR 156 (1959): 38-40.
28 sn There is a wordplay here; the name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) sounds in Hebrew like the verb translated praise (יוֹדוּךָ, yodukha). The wordplay serves to draw attention to the statement as having special significance.