Genesis 41:25-32

41:25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Both dreams of Pharaoh have the same meaning. ¹  God has revealed ²  to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ³  41:26 The seven good cows represent seven years, and the seven good heads of grain represent seven years. Both dreams have the same meaning. ⁴  41:27 The seven lean, bad-looking cows that came up after them represent seven years, as do the seven empty heads of grain burned with the east wind. They represent ⁵  seven years of famine. 41:28 This is just what I told ⁶  Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. 41:29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt. 41:30 But seven years of famine will occur ⁷  after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will devastate ⁸  the land. 41:31 The previous abundance of the land will not be remembered ⁹  because of the famine that follows, for the famine will be very severe. ¹⁰  41:32 The dream was repeated to Pharaoh ¹¹  because the matter has been decreed ¹²  by God, and God will make it happen soon. ¹³ 

Genesis 41:54

41:54 Then the seven years of famine began, ¹⁴  just as Joseph had predicted. There was famine in all the other lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food.

Genesis 42:5-6

42:5 So Israel’s sons came to buy grain among the other travelers, ¹⁵  for the famine was severe in the land of Canaan.

42:6 Now Joseph was the ruler of the country, the one who sold grain to all the people of the country. ¹⁶  Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down ¹⁷  before him with ¹⁸  their faces to the ground.

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ¹⁹  so that we may live ²⁰  and not die.” ²¹ 

Genesis 8:1

8:1 But God remembered ²²  Noah and all the wild animals and domestic animals that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to blow over ²³  the earth and the waters receded.

Amos 3:6

3:6 If an alarm sounds ²⁴  in a city, do people not fear? ²⁵ 

If disaster overtakes a ²⁶  city, is the Lord not responsible? ²⁷ 

Amos 7:1-4

Symbolic Visions of Judgment

7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ²⁸  him making locusts just as the crops planted late ²⁹  were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest. ³⁰ ) 7:2 When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said,

“Sovereign Lord, forgive Israel! ³¹ 

How can Jacob survive? ³² 

He is too weak!” ³³ 

7:3 The Lord decided not to do this. ³⁴  “It will not happen,” the Lord said.

7:4 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw ³⁵  the sovereign Lord summoning a shower of fire. ³⁶  It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields.

Haggai 1:10-11

1:10 This is why the sky ³⁷  has held back its dew and the earth its produce. ³⁸  1:11 Moreover, I have called for a drought that will affect the fields, the hill country, the grain, new wine, fresh olive oil, and everything that grows from the ground; it also will harm people, animals, and everything they produce.’” ³⁹ 

Haggai 2:17

2:17 I struck all the products of your labor ⁴⁰  with blight, disease, and hail, and yet you brought nothing to me,’ ⁴¹  says the Lord.

Matthew 8:8-9

8:8 But the centurion replied, ⁴²  “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. ⁴³  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, ⁴⁴  and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ⁴⁵  ‘Do this’ and he does it.” ⁴⁶ 

Revelation 6:8

6:8 So ⁴⁷  I looked ⁴⁸  and here came ⁴⁹  a pale green ⁵⁰  horse! The ⁵¹  name of the one who rode it ⁵²  was Death, and Hades followed right behind. ⁵³  They ⁵⁴  were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, ⁵⁵  famine, and disease, ⁵⁶  and by the wild animals of the earth.

[41:25]  ¹ tn Heb “the dream of Pharaoh is one.”

[41:25]  ² tn Heb “declared.”

[41:25]  ³ tn The active participle here indicates what is imminent.

[41:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “one dream it is.”

[41:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “are.” Another option is to translate, “There will be seven years of famine.”

[41:28]  ⁶ tn Heb “it is the word that I spoke.”

[41:30]  ⁷ tn The perfect with the vav consecutive continues the time frame of the preceding participle, which has an imminent future nuance here.

[41:30]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew verb כָּלָה (kalah) in the Piel stem means “to finish, to destroy, to bring an end to.” The severity of the famine will ruin the land of Egypt.

[41:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “known.”

[41:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “heavy.”

[41:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and concerning the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh two times.” The Niphal infinitive here is the object of the preposition; it is followed by the subjective genitive “of the dream.”

[41:32]  ¹² tn Heb “established.”

[41:32]  ¹³ tn The clause combines a participle and an infinitive construct: God “is hurrying…to do it,” meaning he is going to do it soon.

[41:54]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “began to arrive.”

[42:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the midst of the coming ones.”

[42:6]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause either introduces a new episode in the unfolding drama or provides the reader with supplemental information necessary to understanding the story.

[42:6]  ¹⁷ sn Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him. Here is the beginning of the fulfillment of Joseph’s dreams (see Gen 37). But it is not the complete fulfillment, since all his brothers and his parents must come. The point of the dream, of course, was not simply to get the family to bow to Joseph, but that Joseph would be placed in a position of rule and authority to save the family and the world (41:57).

[42:6]  ¹⁸ tn The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.

[42:2]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ²¹ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[8:1]  ²² tn The Hebrew word translated “remembered” often carries the sense of acting in accordance with what is remembered, i.e., fulfilling covenant promises (see B. S. Childs, Memory and Tradition in Israel [SBT], especially p. 34).

[8:1]  ²³ tn Heb “to pass over.”

[3:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”

[3:6]  ²⁵ tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”

[3:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”

[3:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:1]  ²⁹ sn The crops planted late (consisting of vegetables) were planted in late January-early March and sprouted in conjunction with the spring rains of March-April. For a discussion of the ancient Israelite agricultural calendar, see O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 31-44.

[7:1]  ³⁰ tn Or “the mowings of the king.”

[7:2]  ³¹ tn “Israel” is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:2]  ³² tn Heb “stand” (so ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[7:2]  ³³ tn Heb “small.”

[7:3]  ³⁴ tn Or “changed his mind about this.”

[7:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “behold” or “look.”

[7:4]  ³⁶ tc The Hebrew appears to read, “summoning to contend with fire,” or “summoning fire to contend,” but both are problematic syntactically (H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos [Hermeneia], 292; S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 230-31). Many emend the text to לרבב אשׁ, “(calling) for a shower of fire,” though this interpretation is also problematic (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 746-47).

[1:10]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “over you” (so KJV), but this is redundant in contemporary English and has been left untranslated.

[1:10]  ³⁸ sn This linkage of human sin to natural disaster is reminiscent of the curse brought upon the earth by Adam’s disobedience (Gen 3:17-19; see Rom 8:20-22).

[1:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “all the labor of hands” (similar KJV, NASB, NIV); cf. NAB “all that is produced by hand.”

[2:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “you, all the work of your hands”; NRSV “you and all the products of your toil”; NIV “all the work of your hands.”

[2:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and there was not with you.” The context favors the idea that the harvests were so poor that the people took care of only themselves, leaving no offering for the Lord. Cf. KJV and many English versions “yet ye turned not to me,” understanding the phrase to refer to the people’s repentance rather than their failure to bring offerings.

[8:8]  ⁴² tn Grk “But answering, the centurion replied.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

[8:9]  ⁴³ tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

[8:9]  ⁴⁴ sn I say to this one ‘Go’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

[8:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

[8:9]  ⁴⁶ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[6:8]  ⁴⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the summons by the fourth creature.

[6:8]  ⁴⁸ tc The reading “and I looked” (καὶ εἶδον, kai eidon) or some slight variation (e.g., ἶδον, idon) has excellent ms support ({א A C P 1611}) and its omission seems to have come through the mss that have already placed “and look” (καὶ ἴδε or καὶ βλέπε [kai ide or kai blepe]) after the verb “come” (ἔρχου, ercou) in 6:1. Thus, for these copyists it was redundant to add “and I looked” again.

[6:8]  ⁴⁹ tn The phrase “and here came” expresses the sense of καὶ ἰδού (kai idou).

[6:8]  ⁵⁰ tn A sickly pallor, when referring to persons, or the green color of plants. BDAG 1085 s.v. χλωρός 2 states, “pale, greenish gray…as the color of a pers. in sickness contrasted with appearance in health…so the horse ridden by Death…ἵππος χλωρός Rv 6:8.” Because the color of the horse is symbolic, “pale green” is used in the translation. Cf. NIV, NCV “pale”; NASB “ashen.”

[6:8]  ⁵¹ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ⁵² tn Grk “the one sitting on it.”

[6:8]  ⁵³ tn Grk “And Hades was following with him.” The Greek expression μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ (met’ autou, “with him”) is Semitic and indicates close proximity. The translation “followed right behind” reflects this.

[6:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[6:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:8]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “with death.” θάνατος (qanatos) can in particular contexts refer to a manner of death, specifically a contagious disease (see BDAG 443 s.v. 3; L&N 23.158).