Genesis 41:40-41

41:40 You will oversee my household, and all my people will submit to your commands. ¹  Only I, the king, will be greater than you. ² 

41:41 “See here,” Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I place ³  you in authority over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴ 

Genesis 45:8

45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁵  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:26

45:26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob was stunned, ⁶  for he did not believe them.

Psalms 105:16-21

105:16 He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply. ⁷ 

105:17 He sent a man ahead of them ⁸  –

Joseph was sold as a servant.

105:18 The shackles hurt his feet; ⁹ 

his neck was placed in an iron collar, ¹⁰ 

105:19 until the time when his prediction ¹¹  came true.

The Lord’s word ¹²  proved him right. ¹³ 

105:20 The king authorized his release; ¹⁴ 

the ruler of nations set him free.

105:21 He put him in charge of his palace, ¹⁵ 

and made him manager of all his property,

Acts 7:10

7:10 and rescued him from all his troubles, and granted him favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made ¹⁶  him ruler over Egypt and over all his household.

[41:40]  ¹ tn Heb “and at your mouth (i.e., instructions) all my people will kiss.” G. J. Wenham translates this “shall kowtow to your instruction” (Genesis [WBC], 2:395). Although there is some textual support for reading “will be judged, ruled by you,” this is probably an attempt to capture the significance of this word. Wenham lists a number of references where individuals have tried to make connections with other words or expressions – such as a root meaning “order themselves” lying behind “kiss,” or an idiomatic idea of “kiss” meaning “seal the mouth,” and so “be silent and submit to.” See K. A. Kitchen, “The Term Nsq in Genesis 41:40,” ExpTim 69 (1957): 30; D. S. Sperling, “Genesis 41:40: A New Interpretation,” JANESCU 10 (1978): 113-19.

[41:40]  ² tn Heb “only the throne, I will be greater than you.”

[41:41]  ³ tn The translation assumes that the perfect verbal form is descriptive of a present action. Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, in which case Pharaoh describes a still future action as if it had already occurred in order to emphasize its certainty. In this case one could translate “I have placed” or “I will place.” The verb נָתַן (natan) is translated here as “to place in authority [over].”

[41:41]  ⁴ sn Joseph became the grand vizier of the land of Egypt. See W. A. Ward, “The Egyptian Office of Joseph,” JSS 5 (1960): 144-50; and R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 129-31.

[45:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[45:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his heart was numb.” Jacob was stunned by the unbelievable news and was unable to respond.

[105:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57).

[105:17]  ⁸ tn After the reference to the famine in v. 16, v. 17 flashes back to events that preceded the famine (see Gen 37).

[105:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “they afflicted his feet with shackles.”

[105:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his neck came [into] iron.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with the suffix could mean simply “he” or “his life.” But the nuance “neck” makes good sense here (note the reference to his “feet” in the preceding line). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 38.

[105:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “word,” probably referring to Joseph’s prediction about the fate of Pharaoh’s cupbearer and baker (see Gen 41:9-14).

[105:19]  ¹² tn This line may refer to Joseph’s prediction of the famine in response to Pharaoh’s dream. Joseph emphasized to Pharaoh that the interpretation of the dream came from God (see Gen 41:16, 25, 28, 32, 39).

[105:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “refined him.”

[105:20]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[the] king sent and set him free.”

[105:21]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he made him master of his house.”

[7:10]  ¹⁶ tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.