Discovery BoxGenesis 37:29-30
Context37:29 Later Reuben returned to the cistern to find that Joseph was not in it! 1 He tore his clothes, 37:30 returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy isn’t there! And I, where can I go?”
Genesis 37:34-35
Context37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, 2 and mourned for his son many days. 37:35 All his sons and daughters stood by 3 him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.” 4 So Joseph’s 5 father wept for him.
Genesis 42:36-38
Context42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. 6 Simeon is gone. 7 And now you want to take 8 Benjamin! Everything is against me.”
42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may 9 put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care 10 and I will bring him back to you.” 42:38 But Jacob 11 replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. 12 If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair 13 in sorrow to the grave.” 14
Genesis 42:2
Context42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us 15 so that we may live 16 and not die.” 17
Genesis 13:1
Context13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 18 He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 19
Genesis 13:1
Context13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev. 20 He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot. 21
Genesis 18:33
Context18:33 The Lord went on his way 22 when he had finished speaking 23 to Abraham. Then Abraham returned home. 24
Job 1:20
Context1:20 Then Job got up 25 and tore his robe. 26 He shaved his head, 27 and then he threw himself down with his face to the ground. 28
[37:29] 1 tn Heb “and look, Joseph was not in the cistern.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the situation through Reuben’s eyes.
[37:34] 2 tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”
[37:35] 3 tn Heb “arose, stood”; which here suggests that they stood by him in his time of grief.
[37:35] 4 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Indeed I will go down to my son mourning to Sheol.’” Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death.
[37:35] 5 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[42:36] 8 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.
[42:37] 9 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.
[42:38] 11 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[42:38] 12 sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.
[42:38] 13 sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.
[42:38] 14 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
[42:2] 15 tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[42:2] 16 tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.
[42:2] 17 tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.
[13:1] 18 tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).
[13:1] 19 tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”
[13:1] 20 tn Or “the South [country]” (also in v. 3).
[13:1] 21 tn Heb “And Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all which was his, and Lot with him, to the Negev.”
[18:33] 22 tn Heb “And the
[18:33] 23 tn The infinitive construct (“speaking”) serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”
[18:33] 24 tn Heb “to his place.”
[1:20] 25 tn The verb וַיָּקָם (vayyaqom, “and he arose”) indicates the intentionality and the rapidity of the actions to follow. It signals the beginning of his response to the terrible news. Therefore, the sentence could be translated, “Then Job immediately began to tear his robe.”
[1:20] 26 sn It was the custom to tear the robe in a time of mourning, to indicate that the heart was torn (Joel 2:13). The “garment, mantel” here is the outer garment frequently worn over the basic tunic. See further D. R. Ap-Thomas, “Notes on Some Terms Relating to Prayer,” VT 6 (1956): 220-24.
[1:20] 27 sn In mourning one normally put off every adornment that enhanced or embellished the person, including that which nature provided (Jer 7:29; Mic 1:16).
[1:20] 28 tn This last verb is the Hishtaphel of the word חָוָה (khavah; BDB 1005 s.v. שָׁחָה); it means “to prostrate oneself, to cause oneself to be low to the ground.” In the OT it is frequently translated “to worship” because that is usually why the individual would kneel down and then put his or her forehead to the ground at the knees. But the word essentially means “to bow down to the ground.” Here “worship” (although employed by several English translations, cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV) conveys more than what is taking place – although Job’s response is certainly worshipful. See G. I. Davies, “A Note on the Etymology of histahawah,” VT 29 (1979): 493-95; and J. A. Emerton, “The Etymology of histahawah,” OTS (1977): 41-55.
