Genesis 41:56

41:56 While the famine was over all the earth, ¹  Joseph opened the storehouses ²  and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe throughout the land of Egypt.

Genesis 43:32

43:32 They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers, ³  and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting ⁴  to do so.) ⁵ 

Genesis 50:11

50:11 When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very sad occasion ⁶  for the Egyptians.” That is why its name was called ⁷  Abel Mizraim, ⁸  which is beyond the Jordan.

[41:56]  ¹ 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]  ² tc The MT reads “he opened all that was in [or “among”] them.” The translation follows the reading of the LXX and Syriac versions.

[43:32]  ³ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[43:32]  ⁴ tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.

[43:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.

[50:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “this is heavy mourning for Egypt.”

[50:11]  ⁶ tn The verb has no expressed subject and so it may be translated as passive.

[50:11]  ⁷ sn The name Abel Mizraim means “the mourning of Egypt.”