¹ tn Heb “and Mizpah.”

² sn The name Mizpah (מִצְפָּה, mitspah), which means “watchpost,” sounds like the verb translated “may he watch” (יִצֶף, yitsef). Neither Laban nor Jacob felt safe with each other, and so they agreed to go their separate ways, trusting the Lord to keep watch at the border. Jacob did not need this treaty, but Laban, perhaps because he had lost his household gods, felt he did.

³ tn Heb “between me and you.”

⁴ tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”

⁵ tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense – as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows – much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.

⁶ tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Esau) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn Heb “Who to you?”

⁹ tn Heb “all this camp which I met.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Dinah) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Heb “whatever you say.”

¹³ tn Or “pay.”

¹⁴ sn The Hebrew verb translated became his personal attendant refers to higher domestic service, usually along the lines of a personal attendant. Here Joseph is made the household steward, a position well-attested in Egyptian literature.

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

¹⁶ tn Heb “put into his hand.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and he extended to him loyal love.”

¹⁸ tn Or “the chief jailer” (also in the following verses).

¹⁹ tn Heb “weeping.”

²⁰ tn Heb “the house of Pharaoh.”

²¹ tn Heb “in the ears of Pharaoh.”