Genesis 17:8

17:8 I will give the whole land of Canaan – the land where you are now residing ¹  – to you and your descendants after you as a permanent ²  possession. I will be their God.”

Genesis 42:15

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, ³  you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Genesis 43:27

43:27 He asked them how they were doing. ⁴  Then he said, “Is your aging father well, the one you spoke about? Is he still alive?”

Genesis 46:4

46:4 I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there. ⁵  Joseph will close your eyes.” ⁶ 

---

¹ tn The verbal root is גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to reside temporarily,” i.e., as a resident alien). It is the land in which Abram resides, but does not yet possess as his very own.

² tn Or “as an eternal.”

³ tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

sn As surely as Pharaoh lives. Joseph uses an oath formula to let the brothers know the certainty of what he said. There is some discussion in the commentaries on swearing by the life of Pharaoh, but since the formulation here reflects the Hebrew practice, it would be hard to connect the ideas exactly to Egyptian practices. Joseph did this to make the point in a way that his Hebrew brothers would understand. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.

⁴ tn Heb “concerning peace.”

⁵ tn Heb “and I, I will bring you up, also bringing up.” The independent personal pronoun before the first person imperfect verbal form draws attention to the speaker/subject, while the infinitive absolute after the imperfect strongly emphasizes the statement: “I myself will certainly bring you up.”

⁶ tn Heb “and Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes.” This is a promise of peaceful death in Egypt with Joseph present to close his eyes.