Genesis 37:18-20

37:18 Now Joseph’s brothers ¹  saw him from a distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 37:19 They said to one another, “Here comes this master of dreams! ²  37:20 Come now, let’s kill him, throw him into one of the cisterns, and then say that a wild ³  animal ate him. Then we’ll see how his dreams turn out!” ⁴ 

Genesis 42:21-22

42:21 They said to one other, ⁵  “Surely we’re being punished ⁶  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ⁷  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁸  has come on us!” 42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ⁹ 

Genesis 42:1

Joseph’s Brothers in Egypt

42:1 When Jacob heard ¹⁰  there was grain in Egypt, he ¹¹  said to his sons, “Why are you looking at each other?” ¹² 

Genesis 30:5

30:5 Bilhah became pregnant ¹³  and gave Jacob a son. ¹⁴ 

Job 20:12-14

20:12 “If ¹⁵  evil is sweet in his mouth

and he hides it under his tongue, ¹⁶ 

20:13 if he retains it for himself

and does not let it go,

and holds it fast in his mouth, ¹⁷ 

20:14 his food is turned sour ¹⁸  in his stomach; ¹⁹ 

it becomes the venom of serpents ²⁰  within him.

Psalms 64:5

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ²¹ 

They plan how to hide ²²  snares,

and boast, ²³  “Who will see them?” ²⁴ 

Proverbs 2:14

2:14 who delight ²⁵  in doing ²⁶  evil, ²⁷ 

they rejoice in perverse evil; ²⁸ 

Proverbs 4:16-17

4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they cause harm; ²⁹ 

they are robbed of sleep ³⁰  until they make someone stumble. ³¹ 

4:17 For they eat bread ³²  gained from wickedness ³³ 

and drink wine obtained from violence. ³⁴ 

[37:18]  ¹ tn Heb “and they”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:19]  ² tn Heb “Look, this master of dreams is coming.” The brothers’ words have a sarcastic note and indicate that they resent his dreams.

[37:20]  ³ tn The Hebrew word can sometimes carry the nuance “evil,” but when used of an animal it refers to a dangerous wild animal.

[37:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “what his dreams will be.”

[42:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ⁶ tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ⁸ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[42:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[42:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “saw.”

[42:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:1]  ¹² sn Why are you looking at each other? The point of Jacob’s question is that his sons should be going to get grain rather than sitting around doing nothing. Jacob, as the patriarch, still makes the decisions for the whole clan.

[30:5]  ¹³ tn Or “Bilhah conceived” (also in v. 7).

[30:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and she bore for Jacob a son.”

[20:12]  ¹⁵ tn The conjunction אִם (’im) introduces clauses that are conditional or concessive. With the imperfect verb in the protasis it indicates what is possible in the present or future. See GKC 496 §159.q).

[20:12]  ¹⁶ sn The wicked person holds on to evil as long as he can, savoring the taste or the pleasure of it.

[20:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in the middle of his palate.”

[20:14]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect verb in the apodosis might express the suddenness of the change (see S. R. Driver, Tenses in Hebrew, 204), or it might be a constative perfect looking at the action as a whole without reference to inception, progress, or completion (see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d). The Niphal perfect simply means “is turned” or “turns”; “sour is supplied in the translation to clarify what is meant.

[20:14]  ¹⁹ tn The word is “in his loins” or “within him.” Some translate more specifically “bowels.”

[20:14]  ²⁰ sn Some commentators suggest that the ancients believed that serpents secreted poison in the gall bladder, or that the poison came from the gall bladder of serpents. In any case, there is poison (from the root “bitter”) in the system of the wicked person; it may simply be saying it is that type of poison.

[64:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ²² tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ²³ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ²⁴ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[2:14]  ²⁵ tn The articular plural active participle functions as the second attributive adjective for אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) in v. 12b.

[2:14]  ²⁶ tn The Qal infinitive construct is the complementary use of the form, expressing the direct object of the participle.

[2:14]  ²⁷ tn Or “harm.”

[2:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the perversity of evil” (so NASB). The noun רָע (ra’, “evil”) functions as an attributed genitive which is modified by the construct noun תַהְפֻּכוֹת (tahpukhot, “perversity”) which functions as an attributive adjective.

[4:16]  ²⁹ sn The verb is רָעַע (ra’a’), which means “to do evil; to harm.” The verse is using the figure of hyperbole to stress the preoccupation of some people with causing trouble. R. L. Alden says, “How sick to find peace only at the price of another man’s misfortune” (Proverbs, 47).

[4:16]  ³⁰ sn Heb “their sleep is robbed/seized”; these expressions are metonymical for their restlessness in plotting evil.

[4:16]  ³¹ sn The Hiphil imperfect (Kethib) means “cause to stumble.” This idiom (from hypocatastasis) means “bring injury/ruin to someone” (BDB 505-6 s.v. כָּשַׁל Hiph.1).

[4:17]  ³² tn The noun is a cognate accusative stressing that they consume wickedness.

[4:17]  ³³ tn Heb “the bread of wickedness” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). There are two ways to take the genitives: (1) genitives of apposition: wickedness and violence are their food and drink (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT), or (2) genitives of source: they derive their livelihood from the evil they do (C. H. Toy, Proverbs [ICC], 93).

[4:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the wine of violence” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV). This is a genitive of source, meaning that the wine they drink was plundered from their violent crime. The Hebrew is structured in an AB:BA chiasm: “For they eat the bread of wickedness, and the wine of violence they drink.” The word order in the translation is reversed for the sake of smoothness and readability.