Discovery BoxGenesis 18:5 
Context18:5 And let me get 1 a bit of food 2 so that you may refresh yourselves 3 since you have passed by your servant’s home. After that you may be on your way.” 4 “All right,” they replied, “you may do as you say.”
Genesis 19:2
Context19:2 He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night 5 and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” 6 “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” 7
Genesis 22:3
Context22:3 Early in the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. 8 He took two of his young servants with him, along with his son Isaac. When he had cut the wood for the burnt offering, he started out 9 for the place God had spoken to him about.
Genesis 44:16
Context44:16 Judah replied, “What can we say 10 to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? 11 God has exposed the sin of your servants! 12 We are now my lord’s slaves, we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”
Genesis 46:34
Context46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle 13 from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, 14 for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting 15 to the Egyptians.”
Genesis 50:17
Context50:17 ‘Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.’ Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.” When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept. 16
1 tn The Qal cohortative here probably has the nuance of polite request.
2 tn Heb “a piece of bread.” The Hebrew word לֶחֶם (lekhem) can refer either to bread specifically or to food in general. Based on Abraham’s directions to Sarah in v. 6, bread was certainly involved, but v. 7 indicates that Abraham had a more elaborate meal in mind.
3 tn Heb “strengthen your heart.” The imperative after the cohortative indicates purpose here.
4 tn Heb “so that you may refresh yourselves, after [which] you may be on your way – for therefore you passed by near your servant.”
5 tn The imperatives have the force of invitation.
6 tn These two verbs form a verbal hendiadys: “you can rise up early and go” means “you can go early.”
7 sn The town square refers to the wide street area at the gate complex of the city.
8 tn Heb “Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his donkey.”
9 tn Heb “he arose and he went.”
10 tn The imperfect verbal form here indicates the subject’s potential.
11 tn The Hitpael form of the verb צָדֵק (tsadeq) here means “to prove ourselves just, to declare ourselves righteous, to prove our innocence.”
12 sn God has exposed the sin of your servants. The first three questions are rhetorical; Judah is stating that there is nothing they can say to clear themselves. He therefore must conclude that they have been found guilty.
13 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
14 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.
15 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.
16 tn Heb “and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”
