Genesis 40:19

40:19 In three more days Pharaoh will decapitate you ¹  and impale you on a pole. Then the birds will eat your flesh from you.”

Genesis 40:1

The Cupbearer and the Baker

40:1 After these things happened, the cupbearer ²  to the king of Egypt and the royal baker ³  offended ⁴  their master, the king of Egypt.

Genesis 28:19-20

28:19 He called that place Bethel, ⁵  although the former name of the town was Luz. 28:20 Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food ⁶  to eat and clothing to wear,

Job 15:24

15:24 Distress and anguish ⁷  terrify him;

they prevail against him

like a king ready to launch an attack, ⁸ 

Daniel 5:26-28

5:26 This is the interpretation of the words: ⁹  As for mene ¹⁰  – God has numbered your kingdom’s days and brought it to an end. 5:27 As for teqel – you are weighed on the balances and found to be lacking. 5:28 As for peres ¹¹  – your kingdom is divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

Zechariah 12:2-3

12:2 “I am about to make Jerusalem ¹²  a cup that brings dizziness ¹³  to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged. 12:3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden ¹⁴  for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; ¹⁵  yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it.

[40:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you.” Joseph repeats the same expression from the first interpretation (see v. 13), but with the added words “from upon you,” which allow the statement to have a more literal and ominous meaning – the baker will be decapitated.

[40:1]  ² sn The Hebrew term cupbearer corresponds to the Egyptian wb’, an official (frequently a foreigner) who often became a confidant of the king and wielded political power (see K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 248). Nehemiah held this post in Persia.

[40:1]  ³ sn The baker may be the Egyptian retehti, the head of the bakers, who had privileges in the royal court.

[40:1]  ⁴ sn The Hebrew verb translated offended here is the same one translated “sin” in 39:9. Perhaps there is an intended contrast between these officials, who deserve to be imprisoned, and Joseph, who refused to sin against God, but was thrown into prison in spite of his innocence.

[28:19]  ⁵ tn The name Bethel means “house of God” in Hebrew (see v. 17).

[28:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “bread,” although the term can be used for food in general.

[15:24]  ⁷ tn If “day and darkness” are added to this line, then this verse is made into a tri-colon – the main reason for transferring it away from the last verse. But the newly proposed reading follows the LXX structure precisely, as if that were the approved construction. The Hebrew of MT has “distress and anguish terrify him.”

[15:24]  ⁸ tn This last colon is deleted by some, moved to v. 26 by others, and the NEB puts it in brackets. The last word (translated here as “launch an attack”) occurs only here. HALOT 472 s.v. כִּידוֹר links it to an Arabic root kadara, “to rush down,” as with a bird of prey. J. Reider defines it as “perturbation” from the same root (“Etymological Studies in Biblical Hebrew,” VT 2 [1952]: 127).

[5:26]  ⁹ tn Or “word” or “event.” See HALOT 1915 s.v. מִלָּה.

[5:26]  ¹⁰ tn The Aramaic term מְנֵא (mÿne’) is a noun referring to a measure of weight. The linkage here to the verb “to number” (Aram. מְנָה, mÿnah) is a case of paronomasia rather than strict etymology. So also with תְּקֵל (tÿqel) and פַרְסִין (farsin). In the latter case there is an obvious wordplay with the name “Persian.”

[5:28]  ¹¹ sn Peres (פְּרֵס) is the singular form of פַרְסִין (pharsin) in v. 25.

[12:2]  ¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:2]  ¹³ sn The image of a cup that brings dizziness is that of drunkenness. The Lord will force the nations to drink of his judgment and in doing so they will become so intoxicated by his wrath that they will stumble and become irrational.

[12:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “heavy stone” (so NRSV, TEV, NLT); KJV “burdensome stone”; NIV “an immovable rock.”

[12:3]  ¹⁵ sn In Israel’s and Judah’s past they had been uprooted by various conquerors such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians. In the eschaton, however, they will be so “heavy” with God’s glory and so rooted in his promises that no nation will be able to move them.