34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin 5 on me by making me a foul odor 6 among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I 7 am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”
43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 8 thoroughly 9 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 10 So we answered him in this way. 11 How could we possibly know 12 that he would say, 13 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
1 tn Heb “the firstborn.”
2 tn Heb “Look, I lied down with my father. Let’s make him drink wine again tonight.”
3 tn Heb “And go, lie down with him and we will keep alive from our father descendants.”
4 tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the
5 tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.
6 tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.
7 tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.
8 tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
9 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
10 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
11 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
12 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
13 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).