Genesis 37:18-28

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 

37:21 When Reuben heard this, he rescued Joseph ⁵  from their hands, ⁶  saying, ⁷  “Let’s not take his life!” ⁸  37:22 Reuben continued, ⁹  “Don’t shed blood! Throw him into this cistern that is here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” ¹⁰  (Reuben said this ¹¹  so he could rescue Joseph ¹²  from them ¹³  and take him back to his father.)

37:23 When Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him ¹⁴  of his tunic, the special tunic that he wore. 37:24 Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. (Now the cistern was empty; ¹⁵  there was no water in it.)

37:25 When they sat down to eat their food, they looked up ¹⁶  and saw ¹⁷  a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh down to Egypt. ¹⁸  37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 37:27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, but let’s not lay a hand on him, ¹⁹  for after all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers agreed. ²⁰  37:28 So when the Midianite ²¹  merchants passed by, Joseph’s brothers pulled ²²  him ²³  out of the cistern and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites ²⁴  then took Joseph to Egypt.

Genesis 42:21-22

42:21 They said to one other, ²⁵  “Surely we’re being punished ²⁶  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ²⁷  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ²⁸  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!” ²⁹ 

Numbers 32:23

32:23 “But if you do not do this, then look, you will have sinned ³⁰  against the Lord. And know that your sin will find you out.

Joshua 7:1

Achan Sins and is Punished

7:1 But the Israelites disobeyed the command about the city’s riches. ³¹  Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, ³²  son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, stole some of the riches. ³³  The Lord was furious with the Israelites. ³⁴ 

Joshua 7:18

7:18 He then made Zabdi’s ³⁵  family approach man by man ³⁶  and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was selected.

Jude 1:7

1:7 So also ³⁷  Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, ³⁸  since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire ³⁹  in a way similar to ⁴⁰  these angels, ⁴¹  are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

Proverbs 28:17

28:17 The one who is tormented ⁴²  by the murder ⁴³  of another will flee to the pit; ⁴⁴ 

let no one support him.

Matthew 7:2

7:2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive. ⁴⁵ 

Luke 12:2

12:2 Nothing is hidden ⁴⁶  that will not be revealed, ⁴⁷  and nothing is secret that will not be made known.

[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.”

[37:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:21]  ⁶ sn From their hands. The instigators of this plot may have been the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (see v. 2).

[37:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he said.”

[37:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “we must not strike him down [with respect to] life.”

[37:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and Reuben said to them.”

[37:22]  ¹⁰ sn The verbs translated shed, throw, and lay sound alike in Hebrew; the repetition of similar sounds draws attention to Reuben’s words.

[37:22]  ¹¹ tn The words “Reuben said this” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:22]  ¹² tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[37:22]  ¹³ tn Heb “from their hands” (cf. v. 21). This expression has been translated as “them” here for stylistic reasons.

[37:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Joseph”; the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“him”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:24]  ¹⁵ tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that helps the reader or hearer to picture what happened.

[37:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lifted up their eyes.”

[37:25]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and they saw and look.” By the use of וְהִנֵּה (vÿhinneh, “and look”), the narrator invites the reader to see the event through the eyes of the brothers.

[37:25]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh, going to go down to Egypt.”

[37:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “let not our hand be upon him.”

[37:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “listened.”

[37:28]  ²¹ sn On the close relationship between Ishmaelites (v. 25) and Midianites, see Judg 8:24.

[37:28]  ²² tn Heb “they drew and they lifted up.” The referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity; otherwise the reader might assume the Midianites had pulled Joseph from the cistern (but cf. NAB).

[37:28]  ²³ tn Heb “Joseph” (both here and in the following clause); the proper name has been replaced both times by the pronoun “him” in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[37:28]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the Ishmaelites) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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.

[32:23]  ³⁰ tn The nuance of the perfect tense here has to be the future perfect.

[7:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “But the sons of Israel were unfaithful with unfaithfulness concerning what was set apart [to the Lord].”

[7:1]  ³² tn 1 Chr 2:6 lists a “Zimri” (but no Zabdi) as one of the five sons of Zerah (cf. also 1 Chr 7:17, 18).

[7:1]  ³³ tn Heb “took from what was set apart [to the Lord].”

[7:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel.”

[7:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Zabdi) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “by men.”

[1:7]  ³⁷ tn Grk “as.”

[1:7]  ³⁸ tn Grk “the towns [or cities] surrounding them.”

[1:7]  ³⁹ tn Grk “strange flesh.” This phrase has been variously interpreted. It could refer to flesh of another species (such as angels lusting after human flesh). This would aptly describe the sin of the angels, but not easily explain the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. It could refer to the homosexual practices of the Sodomites, but a difficulty arises from the use of ἕτερος ({etero"; “strange,” “other”). When this is to be distinguished from ἄλλος (allos, “another”) it suggests “another of a different kind.” If so, would that properly describe homosexual behavior? In response, the language could easily be compact: “pursued flesh other than what was normally pursued.” However, would this find an analogy in the lust of angels (such would imply that angels normally had sexual relations of some sort, but cf. Matt 22:30)? Another alternative is that the focus of the parallel is on the activity of the surrounding cities and the activity of the angels. This is especially plausible since the participles ἐκπορνεύσασαι (ekporneusasai, “having indulged in sexual immorality”) and ἀπελθοῦσαι (apelqousai, “having pursued”) have concord with “cities” (πόλεις, poleis), a feminine plural noun, rather than with Sodom and Gomorrah (both masculine nouns). If so, then their sin would not necessarily have to be homosexuality. However, most likely the feminine participles are used because of constructio ad sensum (construction according to sense). That is, since both Sodom and Gomorrah are cities, the feminine is used to imply that all the cities are involved. The connection with angels thus seems to be somewhat loose: Both angels and Sodom and Gomorrah indulged in heinous sexual immorality. Thus, whether the false teachers indulge in homosexual activity is not the point; mere sexual immorality is enough to condemn them.

[1:7]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “in the same way as.”

[1:7]  ⁴¹ tn “Angels” is not in the Greek text; but the masculine demonstrative pronoun most likely refers back to the angels of v. 6.

[28:17]  ⁴² tn The form is the Qal passive participle. The verb means “to oppress; to wrong; to extort”; here the idea of being “oppressed” would refer to the burden of a guilty conscience (hence “tormented”; cf. NAB, NRSV “burdened”). Some commentators have wanted to emend the text to read “suspected,” or “charged with,” or “given to,” etc., but if the motive is religious and not legal, then “oppressed” or “tormented” is preferred.

[28:17]  ⁴³ sn The text has “the blood of a life”; blood will be the metonymy of effect for the murder, the shedding of blood.

[28:17]  ⁴⁴ tn The verse is cryptic; it simply says that he will “flee to the pit.” Some have taken the “pit” to refer to the place of detention for prisoners, but why would he flee to that place? It seems rather to refer to death. This could mean that (1) since there is no place for him to go outside of the grave, he should flee to the pit (cf. TEV, NLT), or (2) he will be a fugitive until he goes to the grave (cf. NASB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, CEV). Neither one of these options is easily derived from the text. The verse seems to be saying that the one who is guilty of murder will flee, and no one should assist him. The meaning of “the pit” is unresolved.

[7:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “by [the measure] with which you measure it will be measured to you.”

[12:2]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “concealed.”

[12:2]  ⁴⁷ sn I.e., be revealed by God. The passive voice verbs here (“be revealed,” be made known”) see the revelation as coming from God. The text is both a warning about bad things being revealed and an encouragement that good things will be made known, though the stress with the images of darkness and what is hidden in vv. 2-3 is on the attempt to conceal.