Genesis 37:25-28

37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up ¹  and saw ²  a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. ³  37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 37:27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, ⁴  for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. ⁵  37:28 So when the Midianite ⁶  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ⁷  him ⁸  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ⁹  then took Joseph to Egypt.

Genesis 42:21-22

42:21 They said to one other, ¹⁰  “Surely we’re being punished ¹¹  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ¹²  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ¹³  has come on us!” 42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ¹⁴ 

Genesis 49:22

49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, ¹⁵ 

a fruitful bough near a spring

whose branches ¹⁶  climb over the wall.

Esther 3:15

3:15 The messengers ¹⁷  scurried forth ¹⁸  with the king’s order. ¹⁹  The edict was issued in Susa the citadel. While the king and Haman sat down to drink, the city of Susa was in an uproar! ²⁰ 

Romans 12:15

12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.

Romans 12:1

Consecration of the Believer’s Life

12:1 Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, ²¹  by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God ²²  – which is your reasonable service.

Colossians 1:26

1:26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints.

[37:25]  ¹ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”

[37:25]  ² tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.

[37:25]  ³ tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”

[37:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “let not our hand be upon him.”

[37:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “listened.”

[37:28]  ⁶ sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).

[37:28]  ⁸ tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:21]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ¹¹ tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ¹² tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ¹³ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[42:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[49:22]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text appears to mean “[is] a son of fruitfulness.” The second word is an active participle, feminine singular, from the verb פָּרָה (parah, “to be fruitful”). The translation “bough” is employed for בֵּן (ben, elsewhere typically “son”) because Joseph is pictured as a healthy and fruitful vine growing by the wall. But there are difficulties with this interpretation. The word “son” nowhere else refers to a plant and the noun translated “branches” (Heb “daughters”) in the third line is a plural form whereas its verb is singular. In the other oracles of Gen 49 an animal is used for comparison and not a plant, leading some to translate the opening phrase בֵּן פָּרָה (ben parah, “fruitful bough”) as “wild donkey” (JPS, NAB). Various other interpretations involving more radical emendation of the text have also been offered.

[49:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “daughters.”

[3:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “runners.” So also in 8:10, 14. Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “couriers.”

[3:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “went forth in haste” (so ASV).

[3:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “with the word of the king.”

[3:15]  ²⁰ sn The city of Susa was in an uproar. This final statement of v. 15 is a sad commentary on the pathetic disregard of despots for the human misery and suffering that they sometimes inflict on those who are helpless to resist their power. Here, while common people braced for the reckless loss of life and property that was about to begin, the perpetrators went about their mundane activities as though nothing of importance was happening.

[12:1]  ²¹ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.

[12:1]  ²² tn The participle and two adjectives “alive, holy, and pleasing to God” are taken as predicates in relation to “sacrifice,” making the exhortation more emphatic. See ExSyn 618-19.