Discovery BoxGenesis 45:1-28
Context45:1 Joseph was no longer able to control himself before all his attendants, 1 so he cried out, “Make everyone go out from my presence!” No one remained 2 with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. 45:2 He wept loudly; 3 the Egyptians heard it and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. 4
45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him because they were dumbfounded before him. 45:4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me,” so they came near. Then he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 45:5 Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, 5 for God sent me 6 ahead of you to preserve life! 45:6 For these past two years there has been famine in 7 the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 45:7 God sent me 8 ahead of you to preserve you 9 on the earth and to save your lives 10 by a great deliverance. 45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser 11 to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 45:9 Now go up to my father quickly 12 and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay! 45:10 You will live 13 in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me – you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and everything you have. 45:11 I will provide you with food 14 there because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise you would become poor – you, your household, and everyone who belongs to you.”’ 45:12 You and my brother Benjamin can certainly see with your own eyes that I really am the one who speaks to you. 15 45:13 So tell 16 my father about all my honor in Egypt and about everything you have seen. But bring my father down here quickly!” 17
45:14 Then he threw himself on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 45:15 He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After this his brothers talked with him.
45:16 Now it was reported 18 in the household of Pharaoh, “Joseph’s brothers have arrived.” It pleased 19 Pharaoh and his servants. 45:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go 20 to the land of Canaan! 45:18 Get your father and your households and come to me! Then I will give you 21 the best land in Egypt and you will eat 22 the best 23 of the land.’ 45:19 You are also commanded to say, 24 ‘Do this: Take for yourselves wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives. Bring your father and come. 45:20 Don’t worry 25 about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt will be yours.’”
45:21 So the sons of Israel did as he said. 26 Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, 27 and he gave them provisions for the journey. 45:22 He gave sets of clothes to each one of them, 28 but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of clothes. 29 45:23 To his father he sent the following: 30 ten donkeys loaded with the best products of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, food, and provisions for his father’s journey. 45:24 Then he sent his brothers on their way and they left. He said to them, “As you travel don’t be overcome with fear.” 31
45:25 So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 32 45:26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, 33 for he did not believe them. 45:27 But when they related to him everything Joseph had said to them, 34 and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, their father Jacob’s spirit revived. 45:28 Then Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die.”
Genesis 6:9
Context6:9 This is the account of Noah. 35
Noah was a godly man; he was blameless 36
among his contemporaries. 37 He 38 walked with 39 God.
Genesis 23:9
Context23:9 if he will sell 40 me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him; it is at the end of his field. Let him sell it to me publicly 41 for the full price, 42 so that I may own it as a burial site.”
Luke 11:2
Context11:2 So he said to them, “When you pray, 43 say:
Father, 44 may your name be honored; 45
may your kingdom come. 46
[45:1] 1 tn Heb “all the ones standing beside him.”
[45:2] 3 tn Heb “and he gave his voice in weeping,” meaning that Joseph could not restrain himself and wept out loud.
[45:2] 4 tn Heb “and the Egyptians heard and the household of Pharaoh heard.” Presumably in the latter case this was by means of a report.
[45:5] 5 tn Heb “let there not be anger in your eyes.”
[45:5] 6 sn You sold me here, for God sent me. The tension remains as to how the brothers’ wickedness and God’s intentions work together. Clearly God is able to transform the actions of wickedness to bring about some gracious end. But this is saying more than that; it is saying that from the beginning it was God who sent Joseph here. Although harmonization of these ideas remains humanly impossible, the divine intention is what should be the focus. Only that will enable reconciliation.
[45:6] 7 tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”
[45:7] 8 sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).
[45:7] 9 tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”
[45:7] 10 tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.
[45:8] 11 tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.
[45:9] 12 tn Heb “hurry and go up.”
[45:10] 13 tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive here expresses instruction.
[45:11] 14 tn The verb כּוּל (kul) in the Pilpel stem means “to nourish, to support, to sustain.” As in 1 Kgs 20:27, it here means “to supply with food.”
[45:12] 15 tn Heb “And, look, your eyes see and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that my mouth is the one speaking to you.”
[45:13] 16 tn The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive here expresses instruction.
[45:13] 17 tn Heb “and hurry and bring down my father to here.”
[45:16] 18 tn Heb “and the sound was heard.”
[45:16] 19 tn Heb “was good in the eyes of.”
[45:17] 20 tn Heb “and go! Enter!”
[45:18] 21 tn After the imperatives in vv. 17-18a, the cohortative with vav indicates result.
[45:18] 22 tn After the cohortative the imperative with vav states the ultimate goal.
[45:19] 24 tn The words “to say” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[45:20] 25 tn Heb “let not your eye regard.”
[45:21] 26 tn Heb “and the sons of Israel did so.”
[45:21] 27 tn Heb “according to the mouth of Pharaoh.”
[45:22] 28 tn Heb “to all of them he gave, to each one, changes of outer garments.”
[45:22] 29 tn Heb “changes of outer garments.”
[45:23] 30 tn Heb “according to this.”
[45:24] 31 tn Heb “do not be stirred up in the way.” The verb means “stir up.” Some understand the Hebrew verb רָגָז (ragaz, “to stir up”) as a reference to quarreling (see Prov 29:9, where it has this connotation), but in Exod 15:14 and other passages it means “to fear.” This might refer to a fear of robbers, but more likely it is an assuring word that they need not be fearful about returning to Egypt. They might have thought that once Jacob was in Egypt, Joseph would take his revenge on them.
[45:25] 32 tn Heb “and they entered the land of Canaan to their father.”
[45:26] 33 tn Heb “and his heart was numb.” Jacob was stunned by the unbelievable news and was unable to respond.
[45:27] 34 tn Heb “and they spoke to him all the words of Joseph which he had spoke to them.”
[6:9] 35 sn There is a vast body of scholarly literature about the flood story. The following studies are particularly helpful: A. Heidel, The Gilgamesh Epic and the Old Testament Parallels; M. Kessler, “Rhetorical Criticism of Genesis 7,” Rhetorical Criticism: Essays in Honor of James Muilenburg (PTMS), 1-17; I. M. Kikawada and A. Quinn, Before Abraham Was; A. R. Millard, “A New Babylonian ‘Genesis Story’,” TynBul 18 (1967): 3-18; G. J. Wenham, “The Coherence of the Flood Narrative,” VT 28 (1978): 336-48.
[6:9] 36 tn The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “blameless”) is used of men in Gen 17:1 (associated with the idiom “walk before,” which means “maintain a proper relationship with,” see 24:40); Deut 18:13 (where it means “blameless” in the sense of not guilty of the idolatrous practices listed before this; see Josh 24:14); Pss 18:23, 26 (“blameless” in the sense of not having violated God’s commands); 37:18 (in contrast to the wicked); 101:2, 6 (in contrast to proud, deceitful slanderers; see 15:2); Prov 2:21; 11:5 (in contrast to the wicked); 28:10; Job 12:4.
[6:9] 37 tn Heb “Noah was a godly man, blameless in his generations.” The singular “generation” can refer to one’s contemporaries, i.e., those living at a particular point in time. The plural “generations” can refer to successive generations in the past or the future. Here, where it is qualified by “his” (i.e., Noah’s), it refers to Noah’s contemporaries, comprised of the preceding generation (his father’s generation), those of Noah’s generation, and the next generation (those the same age as his children). In other words, “his generations” means the generations contemporary with him. See BDB 190 s.v. דוֹר.
[6:9] 38 tn Heb “Noah.” The proper name has been replaced with the pronoun in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[6:9] 39 tn The construction translated “walked with” is used in Gen 5:22, 24 (see the note on this phrase in 5:22) and in 1 Sam 25:15, where it refers to David’s and Nabal’s men “rubbing shoulders” in the fields. Based on the use in 1 Sam 25:15, the expression seems to mean “live in close proximity to,” which may, by metonymy, mean “maintain cordial relations with.”
[23:9] 40 tn Heb “give.” This is used here (also a second time later in this verse) as an idiom for “sell”; see the note on the word “grant” in v. 4.
[23:9] 41 tn Heb “in your presence.”
[11:2] 43 sn When you pray. What follows, although traditionally known as the Lord’s prayer, is really the disciples’ prayer. It represents how they are to approach God, by acknowledging his uniqueness and their need for his provision and protection.
[11:2] 44 tc Most
[11:2] 45 tn Grk “hallowed be your name.”
[11:2] 46 tc Most
