Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. 10
41:46 Now Joseph was 30 years old 15 when he began serving 16 Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph was commissioned by 17 Pharaoh and was in charge of 18 all the land of Egypt.
42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. 19 Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down 20 before him with 21 their faces to the ground.
45:1 Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, 22 so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained 23 with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay 29 us in full 30 for all the harm 31 we did to him?”
1 sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.
2 tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).
3 tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 sn The Hebrew verb translated left indicates he relinquished the care of it to Joseph. This is stronger than what was said earlier. Apparently Potiphar had come to trust Joseph so much that he knew it was in better care with Joseph than with anyone else.
7 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
8 tn Heb “did not know.”
9 sn The expression except the food he ate probably refers to Potiphar’s private affairs and should not be limited literally to what he ate.
10 tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.
11 sn The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah, is uncertain. Many recent commentators have followed the proposal of G. Steindorff that it means “the god has said, ‘he will live’” (“Der Name Josephs Saphenat-Pa‘neach,” ZÄS 31 [1889]: 41-42); others have suggested “the god speaks and lives” (see BDB 861 s.v. צָפְנָת פַּעְנֵחַ); “the man he knows” (J. Vergote, Joseph en Égypte, 145); or “Joseph [who is called] áIp-àankh” (K. A. Kitchen, NBD3 1262).
12 sn The name Asenath may mean “she belongs to the goddess Neit” (see HALOT 74 s.v. אָֽסְנַת). A novel was written at the beginning of the first century entitled Joseph and Asenath, which included a legendary account of the conversion of Asenath to Joseph’s faith in Yahweh. However, all that can be determined from this chapter is that their children received Hebrew names. See also V. Aptowitzer, “Asenath, the Wife of Joseph – a Haggadic Literary-Historical Study,” HUCA 1 (1924): 239-306.
13 sn On (also in v. 50) is another name for the city of Heliopolis.
14 tn Heb “and he passed through.”
15 tn Heb “a son of thirty years.”
16 tn Heb “when he stood before.”
17 tn Heb “went out from before.”
18 tn Heb “and he passed through all the land of Egypt”; this phrase is interpreted by JPS to mean that Joseph “emerged in charge of the whole land.”
19 tn The disjunctive clause either introduces a new episode in the unfolding drama or provides the reader with supplemental information necessary to understanding the story.
20 sn Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him. Here is the beginning of the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams (see Gen 37). But it is not the complete fulfillment, since all his brothers and his parents must come. The point of the dream, of course, was not simply to get the family to bow to Joseph, but that Joseph would be placed in a position of rule and authority to save the family and the world (41:57).
21 tn The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.
22 tn Heb “all the ones standing beside him.”
23 tn Heb “stood.”
24 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
25 tn Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ.
26 tn Heb “house.”
27 tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”
28 tn Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.
30 tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”
31 tn Or “evil.”
32 tn Heb “saw Ephraim, the children of the third.”
33 tn Heb “they were born on the knees of Joseph.” This expression implies their adoption by Joseph, which meant that they received an inheritance from him.