Genesis 1:9

1:9 God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place ¹  and let dry ground appear.” ²  It was so.

Genesis 24:23

24:23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked. ³  “Tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”

Genesis 39:20

39:20 Joseph’s master took him and threw him into the prison, ⁴  the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. So he was there in the prison. ⁵ 

Genesis 40:3

40:3 so he imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard in the same facility where Joseph was confined.

[1:9]  ¹ sn Let the water…be gathered to one place. In the beginning the water covered the whole earth; now the water was to be restricted to an area to form the ocean. The picture is one of the dry land as an island with the sea surrounding it. Again the sovereignty of God is revealed. Whereas the pagans saw the sea as a force to be reckoned with, God controls the boundaries of the sea. And in the judgment at the flood he will blur the boundaries so that chaos returns.

[1:9]  ² tn When the waters are collected to one place, dry land emerges above the surface of the receding water.

[24:23]  ³ tn Heb “and he said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’” The order of the introductory clause has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[39:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “the house of roundness,” suggesting that the prison might have been a fortress or citadel.

[39:20]  ⁶ sn The story of Joseph is filled with cycles and repetition: He has two dreams (chap. 37), he interprets two dreams in prison (chap. 40) and the two dreams of Pharaoh (chap. 41), his brothers make two trips to see him (chaps. 42-43), and here, for the second time (see 37:24), he is imprisoned for no good reason, with only his coat being used as evidence. For further discussion see H. Jacobsen, “A Legal Note on Potiphar’s Wife,” HTR 69 (1976): 177.