Discovery BoxGenesis 18:19
Context18:19 I have chosen him 1 so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep 2 the way of the Lord by doing 3 what is right and just. Then the Lord will give 4 to Abraham what he promised 5 him.”
Genesis 39:14
Context39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought 6 in a Hebrew man 7 to us to humiliate us. 8 He tried to have sex with me, 9 but I screamed loudly. 10
[18:19] 1 tn Heb “For I have known him.” The verb יָדַע (yada’) here means “to recognize and treat in a special manner, to choose” (see Amos 3:2). It indicates that Abraham stood in a special covenantal relationship with the
[18:19] 2 tn Heb “and they will keep.” The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the subjective nuance of the preceding imperfect verbal form (translated “so that he may command”).
[18:19] 3 tn The infinitive construct here indicates manner, explaining how Abraham’s children and his household will keep the way of the
[18:19] 4 tn Heb “bring on.” The infinitive after לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) indicates result here.
[39:14] 6 tn The verb has no expressed subject, and so it could be treated as a passive (“a Hebrew man was brought in”; cf. NIV). But it is clear from the context that her husband brought Joseph into the household, so Potiphar is the apparent referent here. Thus the translation supplies “my husband” as the referent of the unspecified pronominal subject of the verb (cf. NEB, NRSV).
[39:14] 7 sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.
[39:14] 8 tn Heb “to make fun of us.” The verb translated “to humiliate us” here means to hold something up for ridicule, or to toy with something harmfully. Attempted rape would be such an activity, for it would hold the victim in contempt.
[39:14] 9 tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.
