Genesis 42:18

42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ¹  and you will live, ²  for I fear God. ³ 

Exodus 18:21-22

18:21 But you choose ⁴  from the people capable men, ⁵  God-fearing, ⁶  men of truth, ⁷  those who hate bribes, ⁸  and put them over the people ⁹  as rulers ¹⁰  of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:22 They will judge ¹¹  the people under normal circumstances, ¹²  and every difficult case ¹³  they will bring to you, but every small case ¹⁴  they themselves will judge, so that ¹⁵  you may make it easier for yourself, ¹⁶  and they will bear the burden ¹⁷  with you.

Exodus 18:25-26

18:25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel, and he made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. 18:26 They judged the people under normal circumstances; the difficult cases they would bring ¹⁸  to Moses, but every small case they would judge themselves.

Nehemiah 5:15

5:15 But the former governors who preceded me had burdened the people and had taken food and wine from them, in addition to ¹⁹  forty shekels of silver. Their associates were also domineering over the people. But I did not behave in this way, due to my fear of God.

Isaiah 1:23-26

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ²⁰ 

they associate with ²¹  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ²²  payoffs. ²³ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ²⁴ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ²⁵ 

1:24 Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, ²⁶ 

the powerful ruler of Israel, ²⁷  says this:

“Ah, I will seek vengeance ²⁸  against my adversaries,

I will take revenge against my enemies. ²⁹ 

1:25 I will attack you; ³⁰ 

I will purify your metal with flux. ³¹ 

I will remove all your slag. ³² 

1:26 I will reestablish honest judges as in former times,

wise advisers as in earlier days. ³³ 

Then you will be called, ‘The Just City,

Faithful Town.’”

[42:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ² tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ³ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

[18:21]  ⁴ tn The construction uses the independent pronoun for emphasis, and then the imperfect tense “see” (חָזָה, khazah) – “and you will see from all….” Both in Hebrew and Ugaritic expressions of “seeing” are used in the sense of choosing (Gen 41:33). See U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220.

[18:21]  ⁵ tn The expression is אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל (’anshe khayil, “capable men”). The attributive genitive is the word used in expressions like “mighty man of valor.” The word describes these men as respected, influential, powerful people, those looked up to by the community as leaders, and those who will have the needs of the community in mind.

[18:21]  ⁶ tn The description “fearers of God” uses an objective genitive. It describes them as devout, worshipful, obedient servants of God.

[18:21]  ⁷ tn The expression “men of truth” (אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת, ’anshe ’emet) indicates that these men must be seekers of truth, who know that the task of a judge is to give true judgment (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 220). The word “truth” includes the ideas of faithfulness or reliability, as well as factuality itself. It could be understood to mean “truthful men,” men whose word is reliable and true.

[18:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “haters of bribes.” Here is another objective genitive, one that refers to unjust gain. To hate unjust gain is to reject and refuse it. Their decisions will not be swayed by greed.

[18:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “over them”; the referent (the people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:21]  ¹⁰ sn It is not clear how this structure would work in a judicial setting. The language of “captains of thousands,” etc., is used more for military ranks. There must have been more detailed instruction involved here, for each Israelite would have come under four leaders with this arrangement, and perhaps difficult cases would be sent to the next level. But since the task of these men would also involve instruction and guidance, the breakdown would be very useful. Deut 1:9, 13 suggest that the choice of these people was not simply Moses’ alone.

[18:22]  ¹¹ tn The form is the perfect tense with the vav (ו) consecutive, making it equivalent to the imperfect of instruction in the preceding verse.

[18:22]  ¹² tn Heb “in every time,” meaning “in all normal cases” or “under normal circumstances.” The same phrase occurs in v. 26.

[18:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “great thing.”

[18:22]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “thing.”

[18:22]  ¹⁵ tn The vav here shows the result or the purpose of the instructions given.

[18:22]  ¹⁶ tn The expression וְהָקֵל מֵעָלֶיךָ (vÿhaqel me’aleykha) means literally “and make it light off yourself.” The word plays against the word for “heavy” used earlier – since it was a heavy or burdensome task, Moses must lighten the load.

[18:22]  ¹⁷ tn Here “the burden” has been supplied.

[18:26]  ¹⁸ tn This verb and the verb in the next clause are imperfect tenses. In the past tense narrative of the verse they must be customary, describing continuous action in past time.

[5:15]  ¹⁹ tc The Hebrew term אַחַר (’akhar) is difficult here. It normally means “after,” but that makes no sense here. Some scholars emend it to אַחַד (’akhad) and supply the word “day,” which yields the sense “daily.” Cf. TEV “40 silver coins a day for food and wine.”

[1:23]  ²⁰ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ²² tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ²³ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ²⁴ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ²⁵ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[1:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at v. 9.

[1:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Israel.”

[1:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “console myself” (i.e., by getting revenge); NRSV “pour out my wrath on.”

[1:24]  ²⁹ sn The Lord here identifies with the oppressed and comes as their defender and vindicator.

[1:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “turn my hand against you.” The second person pronouns in vv. 25-26 are feminine singular. Personified Jerusalem is addressed. The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack,” in Ps 81:15 HT (81:14 ET); Ezek 38:12; Am 1:8; Zech 13:7. In Jer 6:9 it is used of gleaning grapes.

[1:25]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will purify your dross as [with] flux.” “Flux” refers here to minerals added to the metals in a furnace to prevent oxides from forming. For this interpretation of II בֹּר (bor), see HALOT 153 s.v. II בֹּר and 750 s.v. סִיג.

[1:25]  ³² sn The metaphor comes from metallurgy; slag is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

[1:26]  ³³ tn Heb “I will restore your judges as in the beginning; and your counselors as in the beginning.” In this context, where social injustice and legal corruption are denounced (see v. 23), the “judges” are probably government officials responsible for making legal decisions, while the “advisers” are probably officials who helped the king establish policies. Both offices are also mentioned in 3:2.