43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
1 tn The Hebrew term לָכֵן (lakhen, “therefore”) in this context carries the sense of “Okay,” or “in that case then I will do this.”
2 sn The symbolic number seven is used here to emphasize that the offender will receive severe punishment. For other rhetorical and hyperbolic uses of the expression “seven times over,” see Pss 12:6; 79:12; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.
3 tn Heb “sign”; “reminder.” The term “sign” is not used in the translation because it might imply to an English reader that God hung a sign on Cain. The text does not identify what the “sign” was. It must have been some outward, visual reminder of Cain’s special protected status.
4 sn God becomes Cain’s protector. Here is common grace – Cain and his community will live on under God’s care, but without salvation.
5 tn Or “for,” if the particle is understood as causal (as many English translations do) rather than asseverative.
6 sn For a discussion of the term prophet see N. Walker, “What is a Nabhi?” ZAW 73 (1961): 99-100.
7 tn After the preceding jussive (or imperfect), the imperative with vav conjunctive here indicates result.
sn He will pray for you that you may live. Abraham was known as a man of God whose prayer would be effectual. Ironically and sadly, he was also known as a liar.
8 tn Heb “if there is not you returning.” The suffix on the particle becomes the subject of the negated clause.
9 tn The imperfect is preceded by the infinitive absolute to make the warning emphatic.
10 tn Heb “give.” This is used here (also a second time later in this verse) as an idiom for “sell”; see the note on the word “grant” in v. 4.
11 tn Heb “in your presence.”
12 tn Heb “silver.”
13 tn Heb “will answer on my behalf.”
14 tn Heb “on the following day,” or “tomorrow.”
15 tn Heb “when you come concerning my wage before you.”
sn Only the wage we agreed on. Jacob would have to be considered completely honest here, for he would have no control over the kind of animals born; and there could be no disagreement over which animals were his wages.
16 tn Heb “every one which is not speckled and spotted among the lambs and dark among the goats, stolen it is with me.”
17 tn Heb “the fear of Isaac,” that is, the one whom Isaac feared and respected. For further discussion of this title see M. Malul, “More on pahad yitschaq (Gen. 31:42,53) and the Oath by the Thigh,” VT 35 (1985): 192-200.
18 tn Heb “My oppression and the work of my hands God saw.”
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
21 sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.
22 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
23 tn Heb “men of skill.”
24 tn Heb “make them rulers.”
sn Put them in charge of my livestock. Pharaoh is, in effect, offering Joseph’s brothers jobs as royal keepers of livestock, a position mentioned often in Egyptian inscriptions, because the Pharaohs owned huge herds of cattle.
25 tn Heb “days.”
26 sn On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.
27 tn Or “deal with me in faithful love.”