37:5 Joseph 1 had a dream, 2 and when he told his brothers about it, 3 they hated him even more. 4
37:18 Now Joseph’s brothers 5 saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph 6 from their hands, 7 saying, 8 “Let’s not take his life!” 9
37:23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him 10 of his tunic, the special tunic that he wore.
37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! 11 He tore his clothes,
37:36 Now 13 in Egypt the Midianites 14 sold Joseph 15 to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard. 16
40:9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph: 22 “In my dream, there was a vine in front of me.
41:17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing 26 by the edge of the Nile.
41:41 “See here,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I place 27 you in authority over all the land of Egypt.” 28
41:50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the famine came. 29 Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, was their mother. 30
46:28 Jacob 39 sent Judah before him to Joseph to accompany him to Goshen. 40 So they came to the land of Goshen.
48:12 So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees 44 and bowed down with his face to the ground.
49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, 45
a fruitful bough near a spring
whose branches 46 climb over the wall.
1 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”
3 sn Some interpreters see Joseph as gloating over his brothers, but the text simply says he told his brothers about it (i.e., the dream). The text gives no warrant for interpreting his manner as arrogant or condescending. It seems normal that he would share a dream with the family.
4 tn The construction uses a hendiadys, “they added to hate,” meaning they hated him even more.
5 tn Heb “and they”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).
8 tn Heb “and he said.”
9 tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”
10 tn Heb “Joseph”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.
11 tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.
12 sn It was with two young goats that Jacob deceived his father (Gen 27:9); now with a young goat his sons continue the deception that dominates this family.
13 tn The disjunctive clause formally signals closure for this episode of Joseph’s story, which will be resumed in Gen 39.
14 tc The MT spells the name of the merchants as מְדָנִים (mÿdanim, “Medanites”) rather than מִדְיָנִים (midyanim, “Midianites”) as in v. 28. It is likely that the MT is corrupt at this point, with the letter yod (י) being accidentally omitted. The LXX, Vulgate, Samaritan Pentateuch, and Syriac read “Midianites” here. Some prefer to read “Medanites” both here and in v. 28, but Judg 8:24, which identifies the Midianites and Ishmaelites, favors the reading “Midianites.”
15 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 sn The expression captain of the guard might indicate that Potiphar was the chief executioner.
17 tn Heb “and he was a prosperous man.” This does not mean that Joseph became wealthy, but that he was successful in what he was doing, or making progress in his situation (see 24:21).
18 tn Heb “and he was.”
19 tn Heb “she lifted up her eyes toward,” an expression that emphasizes her deliberate and careful scrutiny of him.
20 tn Heb “lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
sn The story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife has long been connected with the wisdom warnings about the strange woman who tries to seduce the young man with her boldness and directness (see Prov 5-7, especially 7:6-27). This is part of the literary background of the story of Joseph that gives it a wisdom flavor. See G. von Rad, God at Work in Israel, 19-35; and G. W. Coats, “The Joseph Story and Ancient Wisdom: A Reappraisal,” CBQ 35 (1973): 285-97.
21 tn Heb “all which they were doing there, he was doing.” This probably means that Joseph was in charge of everything that went on in the prison.
22 tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to him.” This has not been translated because it is redundant in English.
23 tn Heb “not within me.”
24 tn Heb “God will answer.”
25 tn The expression שְׁלוֹם פַּרְעֹה (shÿlom par’oh) is here rendered “the welfare of Pharaoh” because the dream will be about life in his land. Some interpret it to mean an answer of “peace” – one that will calm his heart, or give him the answer that he desires (cf. NIV, NRSV, NLT).
26 tn Heb “In my dream look, I was standing.” The use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”) here (and also in vv. 18, 19, 22, 23) invites the hearer (within the context of the narrative, Joseph; but in the broader sense the reader or hearer of the Book of Genesis) to observe the scene through Pharaoh’s eyes.
27 tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is descriptive of a present action. Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, in which case Pharaoh describes a still future action as if it had already occurred in order to emphasize its certainty. In this case one could translate “I have placed” or “I will place.” The verb נָתַן (natan) is translated here as “to place in authority [over].”
28 sn Joseph became the grand vizier of the land of Egypt. See W. A. Ward, “The Egyptian Office of Joseph,” JSS 5 (1960): 144-50; and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 129-31.
29 tn Heb “before the year of the famine came.”
30 tn Heb “gave birth for him.”
31 tn Heb “all the earth,” which refers here (by metonymy) to the people of the earth. Note that the following verb is plural in form, indicating that the inhabitants of the earth are in view.
32 tn Heb “Do this.”
33 tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.
34 sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.
35 tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.
36 tn “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.
37 tn Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.
38 tn Heb “and go! Enter!”
39 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
40 tn Heb “to direct before him to Goshen.”
41 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
42 tc The MT reads “and the people he removed to the cities,” which does not make a lot of sense in this context. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX read “he enslaved them as slaves.”
43 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.
44 tn Heb “and Joseph brought them out from with his knees.” The two boys had probably been standing by Israel’s knees when being adopted and blessed. The referent of the pronoun “his” (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
45 tn The Hebrew text appears to mean “[is] a son of fruitfulness.” The second word is an active participle, feminine singular, from the verb פָּרָה (parah, “to be fruitful”). The translation “bough” is employed for בֵּן (ben, elsewhere typically “son”) because Joseph is pictured as a healthy and fruitful vine growing by the wall. But there are difficulties with this interpretation. The word “son” nowhere else refers to a plant and the noun translated “branches” (Heb “daughters”) in the third line is a plural form whereas its verb is singular. In the other oracles of Gen 49 an animal is used for comparison and not a plant, leading some to translate the opening phrase בֵּן פָּרָה (ben parah, “fruitful bough”) as “wild donkey” (JPS, NAB). Various other interpretations involving more radical emendation of the text have also been offered.
46 tn Heb “daughters.”