37:33 He recognized it and exclaimed, “It is my son’s tunic! A wild animal has eaten him! 7 Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
1 tn The oath formula is used: “if you do us harm” means “so that you will not do.”
2 tn Heb “touched.”
3 tn Heb “and just as we have done only good with you.”
4 tn Heb “and we sent you away.”
5 tn The Philistine leaders are making an observation, not pronouncing a blessing, so the translation reads “you are blessed” rather than “may you be blessed” (cf. NAB).
6 tn Heb “and they sent the special tunic and they brought [it] to their father.” The text as it stands is problematic. It sounds as if they sent the tunic on ahead and then came and brought it to their father. Some emend the second verb to a Qal form and read “and they came.” In this case, they sent the tunic on ahead.
7 sn A wild animal has eaten him. Jacob draws this conclusion on his own without his sons actually having to lie with their words (see v. 20). Dipping the tunic in the goat’s blood was the only deception needed.