Genesis 47:21

47:21 Joseph ¹  made all the people slaves ²  from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end of it.

Genesis 13:3

13:3 And he journeyed from place to place ³  from the Negev as far as Bethel. ⁴  He returned ⁵  to the place where he had pitched his tent ⁶  at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai.

Genesis 14:23

14:23 that I will take nothing ⁷  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ⁸  who made Abram rich.’

Genesis 19:4

19:4 Before they could lie down to sleep, ⁹  all the men – both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom – surrounded the house. ¹⁰ 

Genesis 19:11

19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, ¹¹  with blindness. The men outside ¹²  wore themselves out trying to find the door.

Genesis 6:7

6:7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, ¹³  including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

Genesis 7:23

7:23 So the Lord ¹⁴  destroyed ¹⁵  every living thing that was on the surface of the ground, including people, animals, creatures that creep along the ground, and birds of the sky. ¹⁶  They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark survived. ¹⁷ 

Genesis 46:34

46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ¹⁸  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ¹⁹  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ²⁰  to the Egyptians.”

¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tc The MT reads “and the people he removed to the cities,” which does not make a lot of sense in this context. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX read “he enslaved them as slaves.”

³ tn Heb “on his journeys”; the verb and noun combination means to pick up the tents and move from camp to camp.

⁴ map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.

⁵ tn The words “he returned” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “where his tent had been.”

⁵ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

⁷ tn The verb שָׁכַב (shakhav) means “to lie down, to recline,” that is, “to go to bed.” Here what appears to be an imperfect is a preterite after the adverb טֶרֶם (terem). The nuance of potential (perfect) fits well.

⁸ tn Heb “and the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, from the young to the old, all the people from the end [of the city].” The repetition of the phrase “men of” stresses all kinds of men.

⁹ tn Heb “from the least to the greatest.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the men of Sodom outside the door) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn The text simply has “from man to beast, to creatures, and to birds of the air.” The use of the prepositions עַד…מִן (min...’ad) stresses the extent of the judgment in creation.

¹³ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁴ tn Heb “wiped away” (cf. NRSV “blotted out”).

¹⁵ tn Heb “from man to animal to creeping thing and to the bird of the sky.”

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁאָר (sha’ar) means “to be left over; to survive” in the Niphal verb stem. It is the word used in later biblical texts for the remnant that escapes judgment. See G. F. Hasel, “Semantic Values of Derivatives of the Hebrew Root só’r,” AUSS 11 (1973): 152-69.

¹⁵ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

¹⁶ sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.

¹⁷ tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.