34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin 12 on me by making me a foul odor 13 among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I 14 am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”
37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 15 was taking care of 16 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 17 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 18 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 19 to their father.
43:23 “Everything is fine,” 20 the man in charge of Joseph’s household told them. “Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. 21 I had your money.” 22 Then he brought Simeon out to them.
1 tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.
2 tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.
3 tn The words “still covered” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Noah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the dove) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “and he brought it to himself to the ark.”
7 tn Heb “my wrong is because of you.”
8 tn Heb “I placed my female servant in your bosom.”
9 tn Heb “saw.”
10 tn Heb “I was despised in her eyes.” The passive verb has been translated as active for stylistic reasons. Sarai was made to feel supplanted and worthless by Hagar the servant girl.
11 tn Heb “me and you.”
sn May the
12 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.
13 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.
14 tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.
15 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
16 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
17 tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.
18 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
19 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
sn Some interpreters portray Joseph as a tattletale for bringing back a bad report about them [i.e., his brothers], but the entire Joseph story has some of the characteristics of wisdom literature. Joseph is presented in a good light – not because he was perfect, but because the narrative is showing how wisdom rules. In light of that, this section portrays Joseph as faithful to his father in little things, even though unpopular – and so he will eventually be given authority over greater things.
20 tn Heb “and he said, ‘peace to you.’” Here the statement has the force of “everything is fine,” or perhaps even “calm down.” The referent of “he” (the man in charge of Joseph’ household) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.
21 sn Your God and the God of your father…This is the first clear reference in the story to the theme of divine providence – that God works through the human actions to do his will.
22 tn Heb “your money came to me.”
23 tn The definite article is translated here as a possessive pronoun.