Genesis 41:40

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 

Genesis 41:43-44

41:43 Pharaoh ³  had him ride in the chariot used by his second-in-command, ⁴  and they cried out before him, “Kneel down!” ⁵  So he placed him over all the land of Egypt. 41:44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission ⁶  no one ⁷  will move his hand or his foot ⁸  in all the land of Egypt.”

[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.”

[41:43]  ³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Pharaoh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[41:43]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he caused him to ride in the second chariot which was his.”

[41:43]  ⁵ tn The verb form appears to be a causative imperative from a verbal root meaning “to kneel.” It is a homonym of the word “bless” (identical in root letters but not related etymologically).

[41:44]  ⁶ tn Heb “apart from you.”

[41:44]  ⁷ tn Heb “no man,” but here “man” is generic, referring to people in general.

[41:44]  ⁸ tn The idiom “lift up hand or foot” means “take any action” here.