Genesis 26:28

26:28 They replied, “We could plainly see ¹  that the Lord is with you. So we decided there should be ²  a pact between us ³  – between us ⁴  and you. Allow us to make ⁵  a treaty with you

Genesis 37:20

37:20 Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild ⁶  animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!” ⁷ 

Genesis 39:14

39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought ⁸  in a Hebrew man ⁹  to us to humiliate us. ¹⁰  He tried to have sex with me, ¹¹  but I screamed loudly. ¹² 

Genesis 43:5

43:5 But if you will not send him, we won’t go down there because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

Genesis 48:10

48:10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing ¹³  because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph ¹⁴  brought his sons ¹⁵  near to him, and his father ¹⁶  kissed them and embraced them.

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ¹⁷  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ¹⁸ 

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¹ tn The infinitive absolute before the verb emphasizes the clarity of their perception.

² tn Heb “And we said, ‘Let there be.’” The direct discourse in the Hebrew text has been rendered as indirect discourse in the translation for stylistic reasons.

³ tn The pronoun “us” here is inclusive – it refers to the Philistine contingent on the one hand and Isaac on the other.

⁴ tn The pronoun “us” here is exclusive – it refers to just the Philistine contingent (the following “you” refers to Isaac).

⁵ tn The translation assumes that the cohortative expresses their request. Another option is to understand the cohortative as indicating resolve: “We want to make.’”

⁶ tn The Hebrew word can sometimes carry the nuance “evil,” but when used of an animal it refers to a dangerous wild animal.

⁷ tn Heb “what his dreams will be.”

⁸ tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).

⁹ sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.

¹⁰ tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.

¹¹ tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

¹² tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”

¹³ tn Heb “heavy.”

sn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story. The weakness of Israel’s sight is one of several connections between this chapter and Gen 27. Here there are two sons, and it appears that the younger is being blessed over the older by a blind old man. While it was by Jacob’s deception in chap. 27, here it is with Jacob’s full knowledge.

¹⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁵ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁷ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”