26:7 When the men of that place asked him about his wife, he replied, “She is my sister.” 1 He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” for he thought to himself, 2 “The men of this place will kill me to get 3 Rebekah because she is very beautiful.”
Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. 9
1 sn Rebekah, unlike Sarah, was not actually her husband’s sister.
2 tn Heb “lest.” The words “for he thought to himself” are supplied because the next clause is written with a first person pronoun, showing that Isaac was saying or thinking this.
3 tn Heb “kill me on account of.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 sn The Hebrew verb translated left indicates he relinquished the care of it to Joseph. This is stronger than what was said earlier. Apparently Potiphar had come to trust Joseph so much that he knew it was in better care with Joseph than with anyone else.
6 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
7 tn Heb “did not know.”
8 sn The expression except the food he ate probably refers to Potiphar’s private affairs and should not be limited literally to what he ate.
9 tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.