37:15 When Joseph reached Shechem, 12 a man found him wandering 13 in the field, so the man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
38:2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man 15 named Shua. 16 Judah acquired her as a wife 17 and had marital relations with her. 18
41:33 “So now Pharaoh should look 22 for a wise and discerning man 23 and give him authority 24 over all the land of Egypt.
1 tn The cohortatives mirror the cohortatives of the people. They build to ascend the heavens; God comes down to destroy their language. God speaks here to his angelic assembly. See the notes on the word “make” in 1:26 and “know” in 3:5, as well as Jub. 10:22-23, where an angel recounts this incident and says “And the
2 tn Heb “they will not hear, a man the lip of his neighbor.”
1 tn Heb “and they got up early and they swore an oath, a man to his brother.”
2 tn Heb “and they went from him in peace.”
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
3 tn Heb “between me and you.”
4 tn Heb “for we will be hidden, each man from his neighbor.”
1 sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.
2 sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.
3 tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”
1 tn Heb “and he [i.e., Joseph] went to Shechem.” The referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “and a man found him and look, he was wandering in the field.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the action through this unnamed man’s eyes.
1 tn Heb “Look, this master of dreams is coming.” The brothers’ words have a sarcastic note and indicate that they resent his dreams.
1 tn Heb “a man, a Canaanite.”
2 tn Heb “and his name was Shua.”
3 tn Heb “and he took her.”
4 tn Heb “and he went to her.” This expression is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
1 tn Heb “and he was a prosperous man.” This does not mean that Joseph became wealthy, but that he was successful in what he was doing, or making progress in his situation (see 24:21).
2 tn Heb “and he was.”
1 tn Heb “and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he, each according to the interpretation of his dream we dreamed.”
1 tn Heb “let Pharaoh look.” The jussive form expresses Joseph’s advice to Pharaoh.
2 tn Heb “a man discerning and wise.” The order of the terms is rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “and let him set him.”
1 tn Heb “like this,” but the referent could be misunderstood to be a man like that described by Joseph in v. 33, rather than Joseph himself. For this reason the proper name “Joseph” has been supplied in the translation.
2 tn The rhetorical question expects the answer “No, of course not!”
1 tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”
2 sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.