Genesis 13:10

13:10 Lot looked up and saw ¹  the whole region ²  of the Jordan. He noticed ³  that all of it was well-watered (before the Lord obliterated ⁴  Sodom and Gomorrah) ⁵  like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, ⁶  all the way to Zoar.

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ⁷  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ⁸  this land, from the river of Egypt ⁹  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Genesis 40:5

40:5 Both of them, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison, had a dream ¹⁰  the same night. ¹¹  Each man’s dream had its own meaning. ¹² 

Genesis 41:8

41:8 In the morning he ¹³  was troubled, so he called for ¹⁴  all the diviner-priests ¹⁵  of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, ¹⁶  but no one could interpret ¹⁷  them for him. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 41:19

41:19 Then ¹⁹  seven other cows came up after them; they were scrawny, very bad-looking, and lean. I had never seen such bad-looking cows ²⁰  as these in all the land of Egypt!

Genesis 41:45

41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. ²¹  He also gave him Asenath ²²  daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, ²³  to be his wife. So Joseph took charge of ²⁴  all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 41:48

41:48 Joseph ²⁵  collected all the excess food ²⁶  in the land of Egypt during the seven years and stored it in the cities. ²⁷  In every city he put the food gathered from the fields around it.

Genesis 45:9

45:9 Now go up to my father quickly ²⁸  and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay!

Genesis 46:34

46:34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ²⁹  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ³⁰  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ³¹  to the Egyptians.”

Genesis 47:6

47:6 The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best region of the land. They may live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any highly capable men ³²  among them, put them in charge ³³  of my livestock.”

Genesis 47:14

47:14 Joseph collected all the money that could be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment ³⁴  for the grain they were buying. Then Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. ³⁵ 

Genesis 47:26

47:26 So Joseph made it a statute, ³⁶  which is in effect ³⁷  to this day throughout the land of Egypt: One-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

Genesis 48:5

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. ³⁸  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Genesis 50:11

50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ³⁹  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ⁴⁰  Abel Mizraim, ⁴¹  which is beyond the Jordan.

[13:10]  ¹ tn Heb “lifted up his eyes and saw.” The expression draws attention to the act of looking, indicating that Lot took a good look. It also calls attention to the importance of what was seen.

[13:10]  ² tn Or “plain”; Heb “circle.”

[13:10]  ³ tn The words “he noticed” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ⁴ sn Obliterated. The use of the term “destroy” (שַׁחֵת, shakhet) is reminiscent of the Noahic flood (Gen 6:13). Both at the flood and in Sodom the place was obliterated by catastrophe and only one family survived (see C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:178).

[13:10]  ⁵ tn This short temporal clause (preposition + Piel infinitive construct + subjective genitive + direct object) is strategically placed in the middle of the lavish descriptions to sound an ominous note. The entire clause is parenthetical in nature. Most English translations place the clause at the end of v. 10 for stylistic reasons.

[13:10]  ⁶ sn The narrative places emphasis on what Lot saw so that the reader can appreciate how it aroused his desire for the best land. It makes allusion to the garden of the Lord and to the land of Egypt for comparison. Just as the tree in the garden of Eden had awakened Eve’s desire, so the fertile valley attracted Lot. And just as certain memories of Egypt would cause the Israelites to want to turn back and abandon the trek to the promised land, so Lot headed for the good life.

[15:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ⁸ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ⁹ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[40:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “dreamed a dream.”

[40:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a man his dream in one night.”

[40:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a man according to the interpretation of his dream.”

[41:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[41:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he sent and called,” which indicates an official summons.

[41:8]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term חַרְטֹם (khartom) is an Egyptian loanword (hyr-tp) that describes a class of priests who were skilled in such interpretations.

[41:8]  ²² tn The Hebrew text has the singular (though the Samaritan Pentateuch reads the plural). If retained, the singular must be collective for the set of dreams. Note the plural pronoun “them,” referring to the dreams, in the next clause. However, note that in v. 15 Pharaoh uses the singular to refer to the two dreams. In vv. 17-24 Pharaoh seems to treat the dreams as two parts of one dream (see especially v. 22).

[41:8]  ²³ tn “there was no interpreter.”

[41:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for Pharaoh.” The pronoun “him” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And look.”

[41:19]  ²⁶ tn The word “cows” is supplied here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:45]  ³¹ sn The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah, is uncertain. Many recent commentators have followed the proposal of G. Steindorff that it means “the god has said, ‘he will live’” (“Der Name Josephs Saphenat-Pa‘neach,” ZÄS 31 [1889]: 41-42); others have suggested “the god speaks and lives” (see BDB 861 s.v. צָפְנָת פַּעְנֵחַ); “the man he knows” (J. Vergote, Joseph en Égypte, 145); or “Joseph [who is called] áIp-àankh” (K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 1262).

[41:45]  ³² sn The name Asenath may mean “she belongs to the goddess Neit” (see HALOT 74 s.v. אָֽסְנַת). A novel was written at the beginning of the first century entitled Joseph and Asenath, which included a legendary account of the conversion of Asenath to Joseph’s faith in Yahweh. However, all that can be determined from this chapter is that their children received Hebrew names. See also V. Aptowitzer, “Asenath, the Wife of Joseph – a Haggadic Literary-Historical Study,” HUCA 1 (1924): 239-306.

[41:45]  ³³ sn On (also in v. 50) is another name for the city of Heliopolis.

[41:45]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and he passed through.”

[41:48]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:48]  ³⁸ tn Heb “all the food.”

[41:48]  ³⁹ tn Heb “of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt and placed food in the cities.”

[45:9]  ⁴³ tn Heb “hurry and go up.”

[46:34]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”

[46:34]  ⁵⁰ sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.

[46:34]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.

[47:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “men of skill.”

[47:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “make them rulers.”

[47:14]  ⁶¹ tn Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ.

[47:14]  ⁶² tn Heb “house.”

[47:26]  ⁶⁷ tn On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” VT 16 (1966): 358-61.

[47:26]  ⁶⁸ tn The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:5]  ⁷³ sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.

[50:11]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”

[50:11]  ⁸⁰ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.

[50:11]  ⁸¹ sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”