37:12 When his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,
45:25 So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 1
42:29 They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,
49:28 These 14 are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. 15
37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 16 was taking care of 17 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 18 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 19 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 20 to their father.
43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.
46:5 Then Jacob started out 22 from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.
50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay 23 us in full 24 for all the harm 25 we did to him?”
1 tn Heb “and they entered the land of Canaan to their father.”
1 tn The word translated “garment” has the Hebrew definite article on it. The article may simply indicate that the garment is definite and vivid in the mind of the narrator, but it could refer instead to Noah’s garment. Did Ham bring it out when he told his brothers?
2 tn Heb “their faces [were turned] back.”
1 tn The God of Abraham and the god of Nahor. The Hebrew verb translated “judge” is plural, suggesting that Laban has more than one “god” in mind. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX, apparently in an effort to make the statement monotheistic, have a singular verb. In this case one could translate, “May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us.” However, Laban had a polytheistic world view, as evidenced by his possession of household idols (cf. 31:19). The translation uses “God” when referring to Abraham’s God, for Genesis makes it clear that Abraham worshiped the one true God. It employs “god” when referring to Nahor’s god, for in the Hebrew text Laban refers to a different god here, probably one of the local deities.
2 tn Heb “by the fear of his father Isaac.” See the note on the word “fears” in v. 42.
1 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “of his brothers.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun “them.”
3 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “speak to him for peace.”
1 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.
1 tn Heb “is not.”
2 tn Heb “is not.”
3 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.
1 tn Heb “All these.”
2 tn Heb “and he blessed them, each of whom according to his blessing, he blessed them.”
1 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
2 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
5 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
1 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
1 tn Heb “arose.”
1 tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.
2 tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”
3 tn Or “evil.”