Discovery BoxGenesis 13:9-10 
Context13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go 1 to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
13:10 Lot looked up and saw 2 the whole region 3 of the Jordan. He noticed 4 that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated 5 Sodom and Gomorrah) 6 like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, 7 all the way to Zoar.
Genesis 34:30
Context34:30 Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought ruin 8 on me by making me a foul odor 9 among the inhabitants of the land – among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I 10 am few in number; they will join forces against me and attack me, and both I and my family will be destroyed!”
Genesis 42:7
Context42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger 11 to them and spoke to them harshly. He asked, “Where do you come from?” They answered, 12 “From the land of Canaan, to buy grain for food.” 13
Genesis 43:11
Context43:11 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.
Genesis 46:34
Context46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle 14 from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, 15 for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting 16 to the Egyptians.”
Genesis 47:18
Context47:18 When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from our 17 lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land.
Genesis 48:7
Context48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow 18 – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). 19
Genesis 50:5
Context50:5 ‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, 20 “I am about to die. Bury me 21 in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”
Genesis 50:11
Context50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion 22 for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called 23 Abel Mizraim, 24 which is beyond the Jordan.
1 tn The words “you go” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons both times in this verse.
2 tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.
3 tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”
4 tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
5 sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).
6 tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.
7 sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the
8 tn The traditional translation is “troubled me” (KJV, ASV), but the verb refers to personal or national disaster and suggests complete ruin (see Josh 7:25, Judg 11:35, Prov 11:17). The remainder of the verse describes the “trouble” Simeon and Levi had caused.
9 tn In the causative stem the Hebrew verb בָּאַשׁ (ba’ash) means “to cause to stink, to have a foul smell.” In the contexts in which it is used it describes foul smells, stenches, or things that are odious. Jacob senses that the people in the land will find this act terribly repulsive. See P. R. Ackroyd, “The Hebrew Root באשׁ,” JTS 2 (1951): 31-36.
10 tn Jacob speaks in the first person as the head and representative of the entire family.
11 sn But pretended to be a stranger. Joseph intends to test his brothers to see if they have changed and have the integrity to be patriarchs of the tribes of Israel. He will do this by putting them in the same situations that they and he were in before. The first test will be to awaken their conscience.
12 tn Heb “said.”
13 tn The verb is denominative, meaning “to buy grain”; the word “food” could simply be the direct object, but may also be an adverbial accusative.
14 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
15 sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.
16 tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.
17 tn Heb “my.” The expression “my lord” occurs twice more in this verse.
18 tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”
19 map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
20 tn Heb “saying.”
21 tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.
22 tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”
23 tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.
24 sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”
