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 19:9
Context19:9 “Out of our way!” 5 they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, 6 and now he dares to judge us! 7 We’ll do more harm 8 to you than to them!” They kept 9 pressing in on Lot until they were close enough 10 to break down the door.
Genesis 26:24
Context26:24 The Lord appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
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 43:7
Context43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 14 thoroughly 15 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 16 So we answered him in this way. 17 How could we possibly know 18 that he would say, 19 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
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 43:32
Context43:32 They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, 20 and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting 21 to do so.) 22
Genesis 47:29
Context47:29 The time 23 for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh 24 and show me kindness and faithfulness. 25 Do not bury me in Egypt,
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 Heb “approach out there” which could be rendered “Get out of the way, stand back!”
6 tn Heb “to live as a resident alien.”
7 tn Heb “and he has judged, judging.” The infinitive absolute follows the finite verbal form for emphasis. This emphasis is reflected in the translation by the phrase “dares to judge.”
8 tn The verb “to do wickedly” is repeated here (see v. 7). It appears that whatever “wickedness” the men of Sodom had intended to do to Lot’s visitors – probably nothing short of homosexual rape – they were now ready to inflict on Lot.
9 tn Heb “and they pressed against the man, against Lot, exceedingly.”
10 tn Heb “and they drew near.”
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 The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
15 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
16 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
17 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
18 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
19 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).
20 tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
21 tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.
22 tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.
sn That the Egyptians found eating with foreigners disgusting is well-attested in extra-biblical literature by writers like Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo.
23 tn Heb “days.”
24 sn On the expression put your hand under my thigh see Gen 24:2.
25 tn Or “deal with me in faithful love.”
