Genesis 41:12

41:12 Now a young man, a Hebrew, a servant ¹  of the captain of the guards, ²  was with us there. We told him our dreams, ³  and he interpreted the meaning of each of our respective dreams for us. ⁴ 

Genesis 39:14

39:14 she called for her household servants and said to them, “See, my husband brought ⁵  in a Hebrew man ⁶  to us to humiliate us. ⁷  He tried to have sex with me, ⁸  but I screamed loudly. ⁹ 

[41:12]  ¹ tn Or “slave.”

[41:12]  ² tn Heb “a servant to the captain of the guards.” On this construction see GKC 419-20 §129.c.

[41:12]  ³ tn The words “our dreams” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he interpreted for us our dreams, each according to his dream he interpreted.”

[39:14]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn A Hebrew man. Potiphar’s wife raises the ethnic issue when talking to her servants about what their boss had done.

[39:14]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “he came to me to lie with me.” Here the expression “lie with” is a euphemism for sexual intercourse.

[39:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I cried out with a loud voice.”