Discovery BoxGenesis 24:7 
Context24:7 “The Lord, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and the land of my relatives, 1 promised me with a solemn oath, 2 ‘To your descendants I will give this land.’ He will send his angel 3 before you so that you may find 4 a wife for my son from there.
Genesis 24:40
Context24:40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked, 5 will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family.
Genesis 37:2
Context37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 6 was taking care of 7 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 8 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 9 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 10 to their father.
Genesis 46:34
Context46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle 11 from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, 12 for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting 13 to the Egyptians.”
1 tn Or “the land of my birth.”
2 tn Heb “and who spoke to me and who swore to me, saying.”
3 tn Or “his messenger.”
4 tn Heb “before you and you will take.”
5 tn The verb is the Hitpael of הָלַךְ (halakh), meaning “live one’s life” (see Gen 17:1). The statement may simply refer to serving the
6 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
7 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
8 tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.
9 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
10 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
sn Some interpreters portray Joseph as a tattletale for bringing back a bad report about them [i.e., his brothers], but the entire Joseph story has some of the characteristics of wisdom literature. Joseph is presented in a good light – not because he was perfect, but because the narrative is showing how wisdom rules. In light of that, this section portrays Joseph as faithful to his father in little things, even though unpopular – and so he will eventually be given authority over greater things.
11 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
12 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.
13 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.
