Genesis 45:6-7

45:6 For these past two years there has been famine in 1  the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 45:7 God sent me 2  ahead of you to preserve you 3  on the earth and to save your lives 4  by a great deliverance.

1 tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”

2 sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

3 tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

4 tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.