Genesis 45:5

45:5 Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ¹  for God sent me ²  ahead of you to preserve life!

Genesis 45:2

45:2 He wept loudly; ³  the Egyptians heard it and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. ⁴ 

Genesis 16:12

16:12 He will be a wild donkey ⁵  of a man.

He will be hostile to everyone, ⁶ 

and everyone will be hostile to him. ⁷ 

He will live away from ⁸  his brothers.”

Genesis 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ⁹  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ¹⁰  but she had an Egyptian servant ¹¹  named Hagar. ¹² 

Genesis 12:15

12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife ¹³  was taken ¹⁴  into the household of Pharaoh, ¹⁵ 

Psalms 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 42:24

42:24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?

Who handed Israel over to the looters? ¹⁷ 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?

They refused to follow his commands;

they disobeyed his law. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 45:7

45:7 I am ¹⁹  the one who forms light

and creates darkness; ²⁰ 

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity. ²¹ 

I am the Lord, who accomplishes all these things.

Amos 3:6

3:6 If an alarm sounds ²²  in a city, do people not fear? ²³ 

If disaster overtakes a ²⁴  city, is the Lord not responsible? ²⁵ 

Matthew 20:15

20:15 Am I not ²⁶  permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ²⁷ 

Acts 4:28

4:28 to do as much as your power ²⁸  and your plan ²⁹  had decided beforehand ³⁰  would happen.

[45:5]  ¹ tn Heb “let there not be anger in your eyes.”

[45:5]  ² sn You sold me here, for God sent me. The tension remains as to how the brothers’ wickedness and God’s intentions work together. Clearly God is able to transform the actions of wickedness to bring about some gracious end. But this is saying more than that; it is saying that from the beginning it was God who sent Joseph here. Although harmonization of these ideas remains humanly impossible, the divine intention is what should be the focus. Only that will enable reconciliation.

[45:2]  ³ tn Heb “and he gave his voice in weeping,” meaning that Joseph could not restrain himself and wept out loud.

[45:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the Egyptians heard and the household of Pharaoh heard.” Presumably in the latter case this was by means of a report.

[16:12]  ⁵ sn A wild donkey of a man. The prophecy is not an insult. The wild donkey lived a solitary existence in the desert away from society. Ishmael would be free-roaming, strong, and like a bedouin; he would enjoy the freedom his mother sought.

[16:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “His hand will be against everyone.” The “hand” by metonymy represents strength. His free-roaming life style would put him in conflict with those who follow social conventions. There would not be open warfare, only friction because of his antagonism to their way of life.

[16:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “And the hand of everyone will be against him.”

[16:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “opposite, across from.” Ishmael would live on the edge of society (cf. NASB “to the east of”). Some take this as an idiom meaning “be at odds with” (cf. NRSV, NLT) or “live in hostility toward” (cf. NIV).

[16:1]  ⁹ tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ¹⁰ sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ¹² sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[12:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the woman.” The word also means “wife”; the Hebrew article can express the possessive pronoun (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §86). Here the proper name (Abram) has been used in the translation instead of a possessive pronoun (“his”) for clarity.

[12:15]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term וַתֻּקַּח (vattuqqakh, “was taken”) is a rare verbal form, an old Qal passive preterite from the verb “to take.” It is pointed as a Hophal would be by the Masoretes, but does not have a Hophal meaning.

[12:15]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text simply has “house of Pharaoh.” The word “house” refers to the household in general, more specifically to the royal harem.

[39:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[42:24]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Who gave to the robber Jacob, and Israel to the looters?” In the first line the consonantal text (Kethib) has מְשׁוֹסֶה (mÿshoseh), a Polel participle from שָׁסָה (shasah, “plunder”). The marginal reading (Qere) is מְשִׁיסָּה (mÿshissah), a noun meaning “plunder.” In this case one could translate “Who handed Jacob over as plunder?”

[42:24]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they were not willing in his ways to walk, and they did not listen to his law.”

[45:7]  ¹⁹ tn The words “I am” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the participle at the beginning of v. 7 stands in apposition to “the Lord” in v. 6.

[45:7]  ²⁰ tn On the surface v. 7a appears to describe God’s sovereign control over the cycle of day and night, but the following statement suggests that “light” and “darkness” symbolize “deliverance” and “judgment.”

[45:7]  ²¹ sn This verses affirms that God is ultimately sovereign over his world, including mankind and nations. In accordance with his sovereign will, he can cause wars to cease and peace to predominate (as he was about to do for his exiled people through Cyrus), or he can bring disaster and judgment on nations (as he was about to do to Babylon through Cyrus).

[3:6]  ²² tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”

[3:6]  ²³ tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”

[3:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “is in”; NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”

[3:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”

[20:15]  ²⁶ tc ‡ Before οὐκ (ouk, “[am I] not”) a number of significant witnesses read ἤ (h, “or”; e.g., א C W 085 Ë^1,13 33 and most others). Although in later Greek the οι in σοι (oi in soi) – the last word of v. 14 – would have been pronounced like ἤ, since ἤ is lacking in early mss (B D; among later witnesses, note L Z Θ 700) and since mss were probably copied predominantly by sight rather than by sound, even into the later centuries, the omission of ἤ cannot be accounted for as easily. Thus the shorter reading is most likely original. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[20:15]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Is your eye evil because I am good?”

[4:28]  ²⁸ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ²⁹ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ³⁰ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.