37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 1 was taking care of 2 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 3 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 4 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 5 to their father.
Now Joseph was well built and good-looking. 11
45:1 Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, 16 so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained 17 with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge and wants to repay 22 us in full 23 for all the harm 24 we did to him?”
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.
6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Potiphar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 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.
8 tn Heb “hand.” This is a metonymy for being under the control or care of Joseph.
9 tn Heb “did not know.”
10 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.
11 tn Heb “handsome of form and handsome of appearance.” The same Hebrew expressions were used in Gen 29:17 for Rachel.
11 sn The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah, is uncertain. Many recent commentators have followed the proposal of G. Steindorff that it means “the god has said, ‘he will live’” (“Der Name Josephs Saphenat-Pa‘neach,” ZÄS 31 [1889]: 41-42); others have suggested “the god speaks and lives” (see BDB 861 s.v. צָפְנָת פַּעְנֵחַ); “the man he knows” (J. Vergote, Joseph en Égypte, 145); or “Joseph [who is called] áIp-àankh” (K. A. Kitchen, NBD3 1262).
12 sn The name Asenath may mean “she belongs to the goddess Neit” (see HALOT 74 s.v. אָֽסְנַת). A novel was written at the beginning of the first century entitled Joseph and Asenath, which included a legendary account of the conversion of Asenath to Joseph’s faith in Yahweh. However, all that can be determined from this chapter is that their children received Hebrew names. See also V. Aptowitzer, “Asenath, the Wife of Joseph – a Haggadic Literary-Historical Study,” HUCA 1 (1924): 239-306.
13 sn On (also in v. 50) is another name for the city of Heliopolis.
14 tn Heb “and he passed through.”
16 tn Heb “all the ones standing beside him.”
17 tn Heb “stood.”
21 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
26 tn Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ.
27 tn Heb “house.”
31 tn The definite article is translated here as a possessive pronoun.
36 tn The imperfect tense could be a simple future; it could also have a desiderative nuance.
37 tn The infinitive absolute makes the statement emphatic, “repay in full.”
38 tn Or “evil.”
41 tn Heb “and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.”