Genesis 7:2

7:2 You must take with you seven ¹  of every kind of clean animal, ²  the male and its mate, ³  two of every kind of unclean animal, the male and its mate,

Genesis 7:4

7:4 For in seven days ⁴  I will cause it to rain ⁵  on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the ground every living thing that I have made.”

Genesis 41:19

41:19 Then ⁶  seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows ⁷  as these in all the land of Egypt!

Genesis 41:24

41:24 The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. So I told all this ⁸  to the diviner-priests, but no one could tell me its meaning.” ⁹ 

Genesis 41:34

41:34 Pharaoh should do ¹⁰  this – he should appoint ¹¹  officials ¹²  throughout the land to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt ¹³  during the seven years of abundance.

Genesis 41:36

41:36 This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt. In this way the land will survive the famine.” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 41:48

41:48 Joseph ¹⁵  collected all the excess food ¹⁶  in the land of Egypt during the seven years and stored it in the cities. ¹⁷  In every city he put the food gathered from the fields around it.

Genesis 41:54

41:54 Then the seven years of famine began, ¹⁸  just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Genesis 50:10

50:10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad ¹⁹  on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. ²⁰  There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.

---

¹ tn Or “seven pairs” (cf. NRSV).

² sn For a study of the Levitical terminology of “clean” and “unclean,” see L. E. Toombs, IDB 1:643.

³ tn Heb “a male and his female” (also a second time at the end of this verse). The terms used here for male and female animals (אִישׁ, ’ish) and אִשָּׁה, ’ishah) normally refer to humans.

⁴ tn Heb “for seven days yet,” meaning “after [or “in”] seven days.”

⁵ tn The Hiphil participle מַמְטִיר (mamtir, “cause to rain”) here expresses the certainty of the act in the imminent future.

⁶ tn Heb “And look.”

⁷ tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁸ tn The words “all this” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁹ tn Heb “and there was no one telling me.”

¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form has an obligatory nuance here. The Samaritan Pentateuch has a jussive form here, “and let [Pharaoh] do.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and let him appoint.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.

¹² tn Heb “appointees.” The noun is a cognate accusative of the preceding verb. Since “appoint appointees” would be redundant in English, the term “officials” was used in the translation instead.

¹³ tn Heb “and he shall collect a fifth of the land of Egypt.” The language is figurative (metonymy); it means what the land produces, i.e., the harvest.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and the land will not be cut off in the famine.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁶ tn Heb “all the food.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and placed food in the cities.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “began to arrive.”

¹⁹ sn The location of the threshing floor of Atad is not certain. The expression the other side of the Jordan could refer to the eastern or western bank, depending on one’s perspective. However, it is commonly used in the OT for Transjordan. This would suggest that the entourage came up the Jordan Valley and crossed into the land at Jericho, just as the Israelites would in the time of Joshua.

²⁰ tn Heb “and they mourned there [with] very great and heavy mourning.” The cognate accusative, as well as the two adjectives and the adverb, emphasize the degree of their sorrow.