47:26 So Joseph made it a statute, 11 which is in effect 12 to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.
1 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “to arise, to stand up”) in the Hiphil verbal stem means “to confirm, to give effect to, to carry out” (i.e., a covenant or oath; see BDB 878-79 s.v. קוּם).
2 tn Or “as an eternal.”
3 tn Heb “to be to you for God and to your descendants after you.”
4 tn Heb “the son of eight days.”
5 tn The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. The Samaritan Pentateuch has a jussive form here, “and let [Pharaoh] do.”
6 tn Heb “and let him appoint.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.
7 tn Heb “appointees.” The noun is a cognate accusative of the preceding verb. Since “appoint appointees” would be redundant in English, the term “officials” was used in the translation instead.
8 tn Heb “and he shall collect a fifth of the land of Egypt.” The language is figurative (metonymy); it means what the land produces, i.e., the harvest.
9 tn Heb “and the land will not be cut off in the famine.”
10 tn Heb “began to arrive.”
11 tn On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” VT 16 (1966): 358-61.
12 tn The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.