Genesis 39:1

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

39:1 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt. ¹  An Egyptian named Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh and the captain of the guard, ²  purchased him from ³  the Ishmaelites who had brought him there.

Genesis 41:56

41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, ⁴  Joseph opened the storehouses ⁵  and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:3

50:3 They took forty days, for that is the full time needed for embalming. ⁶  The Egyptians mourned ⁷  for him seventy days. ⁸ 

[39:1]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause resumes the earlier narrative pertaining to Joseph by recapitulating the event described in 37:36. The perfect verbal form is given a past perfect translation to restore the sequence of the narrative for the reader.

[39:1]  ² sn Captain of the guard. See the note on this phrase in Gen 37:36.

[39:1]  ³ tn Heb “from the hand of.”

[41:56]  ⁴ tn Or “over the entire land”; Heb “over all the face of the earth.” The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal to the next clause.

[41:56]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.

[50:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “and forty days were fulfilled for him, for thus are fulfilled the days of embalming.”

[50:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “wept.”

[50:3]  ⁹ sn Seventy days. This probably refers to a time of national mourning.