Genesis 45:5-8

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! 45:6 For these past two years there has been famine in ³  the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 45:7 God sent me ⁴  ahead of you to preserve you ⁵  on the earth and to save your lives ⁶  by a great deliverance. 45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁷  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:2

45:2 He wept loudly; ⁸  the Egyptians heard it and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. ⁹ 

Genesis 32:20-26

32:20 You must also say, ‘In fact your servant Jacob is behind us.’” ¹⁰  Jacob thought, ¹¹  “I will first appease him ¹²  by sending a gift ahead of me. ¹³  After that I will meet him. ¹⁴  Perhaps he will accept me.” ¹⁵  32:21 So the gifts were sent on ahead of him ¹⁶  while he spent that night in the camp. ¹⁷ 

32:22 During the night Jacob quickly took ¹⁸  his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven sons ¹⁹  and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²⁰  32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream along with all his possessions. ²¹  32:24 So Jacob was left alone. Then a man ²²  wrestled ²³  with him until daybreak. ²⁴  32:25 When the man ²⁵  saw that he could not defeat Jacob, ²⁶  he struck ²⁷  the socket of his hip so the socket of Jacob’s hip was dislocated while he wrestled with him.

32:26 Then the man ²⁸  said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” ²⁹  “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, ³⁰  “unless you bless me.” ³¹ 

Job 22:28-30

22:28 Whatever you decide ³²  on a matter,

it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways.

22:29 When people are brought low ³³  and you say

‘Lift them up!’ ³⁴ 

then he will save the downcast; ³⁵ 

22:30 he will deliver even someone who is not innocent, ³⁶ 

who will escape ³⁷  through the cleanness of your hands.”

Ecclesiastes 9:15

9:15 However, a poor but wise man lived in the city, ³⁸ 

and he could have delivered ³⁹  the city by his wisdom,

but no one listened ⁴⁰  to that poor man.

Isaiah 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ⁴¹ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ⁴² 

Daniel 4:27

4:27 Therefore, O king, may my advice be pleasing to you. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity will be prolonged.” ⁴³ 

[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.

[45:6]  ³ tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”

[45:7]  ⁴ sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

[45:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ⁶ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.

[45:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[45:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he gave his voice in weeping,” meaning that Joseph could not restrain himself and wept out loud.

[45:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the Egyptians heard and the household of Pharaoh heard.” Presumably in the latter case this was by means of a report.

[32:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and look, your servant Jacob [is] behind us.”

[32:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for he said.” The referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The Hebrew word מַקֵל (maqel), traditionally represents Jacob’s thought or reasoning, and is therefore translated “thought.”

[32:20]  ¹² tn Heb “I will appease his face.” The cohortative here expresses Jacob’s resolve. In the Book of Leviticus the Hebrew verb translated “appease” has the idea of removing anger due to sin or guilt, a nuance that fits this passage very well. Jacob wanted to buy Esau off with a gift of more than five hundred and fifty animals.

[32:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “with a gift going before me.”

[32:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will see his face.”

[32:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Perhaps he will lift up my face.” In this context the idiom refers to acceptance.

[32:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the gift passed over upon his face.”

[32:21]  ¹⁷ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial/temporal.

[32:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he arose in that night and he took.” The first verb is adverbial, indicating that he carried out the crossing right away.

[32:22]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term used here is יֶלֶד (yeled) which typically describes male offspring. Some translations render the term “children” but this is a problem because by this time Jacob had twelve children in all, including one daughter, Dinah, born to Leah (Gen 30:21). Benjamin, his twelfth son and thirteenth child, was not born until later (Gen 35:16-19).

[32:22]  ²⁰ sn Hebrew narrative style often includes a summary statement of the whole passage followed by a more detailed report of the event. Here v. 22 is the summary statement, while v. 23 begins the detailed account.

[32:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he sent across what he had.”

[32:24]  ²² sn Reflecting Jacob’s perspective at the beginning of the encounter, the narrator calls the opponent simply “a man.” Not until later in the struggle does Jacob realize his true identity.

[32:24]  ²³ sn The verb translated “wrestled” (וַיֵּאָבֵק, vayye’aveq) sounds in Hebrew like the names “Jacob” (יַעֲקֹב, ya’aqov) and “Jabbok” (יַבֹּק, yabboq). In this way the narrator links the setting, the main action, and the main participant together in the mind of the reader or hearer.

[32:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “until the rising of the dawn.”

[32:25]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:25]  ²⁷ tn Or “injured”; traditionally “touched.” The Hebrew verb translated “struck” has the primary meanings “to touch; to reach; to strike.” It can, however, carry the connotation “to harm; to molest; to injure.” God’s “touch” cripples Jacob – it would be comparable to a devastating blow.

[32:26]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”

[32:26]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[32:26]  ³¹ sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.

[22:28]  ³² tn The word is גָּזַר (gazar, “to cut”), in the sense of deciding a matter.

[22:29]  ³³ tn There is no expressed subject here, and so the verb is taken as a passive voice again.

[22:29]  ³⁴ tn The word גֵּוָה (gevah) means “loftiness; pride.” Here it simply says “up,” or “pride.” The rest is paraphrased. Of the many suggestions, the following provide a sampling: “It is because of pride” (ESV), “he abases pride” (H. H. Rowley); “[he abases] the lofty and the proud” (Beer); “[he abases] the word of pride” [Duhm]; “[he abases] the haughtiness of pride” [Fohrer and others]; “[he abases] the one who speaks proudly” [Weiser]; “[he abases] the one who boasts in pride” [Kissane]; and “God [abases] pride” [Budde, Gray].

[22:29]  ³⁵ tn Or “humble”; Heb “the lowly of eyes.”

[22:30]  ³⁶ tc The Hebrew has אִי־נָקִי (’i naqi), which could be taken as “island of the innocent” (so Ibn-Ezra), or “him that is not innocent” (so Rashi). But some have changed אִי (’i) to אִישׁ (’ish, “the innocent man”). Others differ: A. Guillaume links אִי (’i) to Arabic ‘ayya “whosoever,” and so leaves the text alone. M. Dahood secures the same idea from Ugaritic, but reads it אֵי (’e).

[22:30]  ³⁷ tc The MT has “he will escape [or be delivered].” Theodotion has the second person, “you will be delivered.”

[9:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “was found in it”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:15]  ³⁹ tn Or “he delivered.” The verb וּמִלַּט (umillat, from מָלַט, malat, “to deliver”) is functioning either in an indicative sense (past definite action: “he delivered”) or in a modal sense (past potential: “he could have delivered”). The literal meaning of זָכַר (zakhar, “to remember”) in the following line harmonizes with the indicative: “but no one remembered that poor man [afterward].” However, the modal is supported by v. 16: “A poor man’s wisdom is despised; no one ever listens to his advice.” This approach must nuance זָכַר (“to remember”) as “[no one] listened to [that poor man].” Most translations favor the indicative approach: “he delivered” or “he saved” (KJV, RSV, NRSV, NAB, ASV, NASB, MLB, NIV); however, some adopt the modal nuance: “he might have saved” (NEB, NJPS, NASB margin).

[9:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “remembered.”

[58:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ⁴² tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[4:27]  ⁴³ tn Aram “if there may be a lengthening to your prosperity.”