Genesis 36:6

36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, all the people in his household, his livestock, his animals, and all his possessions which he had acquired in the land of Canaan and went to a land some distance away from ¹  Jacob his brother

Genesis 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ²  was taking care of ³  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ⁴  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁵  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁶  to their father.

Genesis 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ⁷  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ⁸  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ⁹  in sorrow to the grave.” ¹⁰ 

[36:6]  ¹ tn Heb “from before.”

[37:2]  ² tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ³ tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[42:38]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ⁴ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ⁵ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ⁶ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.