39:1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. 1 An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, 2 purchased him from 3 the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.
41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, 4 Joseph opened the storehouses 5 and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.
1 tn The disjunctive clause resumes the earlier narrative pertaining to Joseph by recapitulating the event described in 37:36. The perfect verbal form is given a past perfect translation to restore the sequence of the narrative for the reader.
2 sn Captain of the guard. See the note on this phrase in Gen 37:36.
3 tn Heb “from the hand of.”
4 tn Or “over the entire land”; Heb “over all the face of the earth.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal to the next clause.
5 tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.
7 tn Heb “and forty days were fulfilled for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming.”
8 tn Heb “wept.”
9 sn Seventy days. This probably refers to a time of national mourning.