Genesis 45:7-8

45:7 God sent me ¹  ahead of you to preserve you ²  on the earth and to save your lives ³  by a great deliverance. 45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁴  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 47:25

47:25 They replied, “You have saved our lives! You are showing us favor, ⁵  and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ⁶ 

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ⁷  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ⁸ 

Genesis 50:1

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph

50:1 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. ⁹  He wept over him and kissed him.

Genesis 1:19

1:19 There was evening, and there was morning, a fourth day.

Genesis 1:2

1:2 Now ¹⁰  the earth ¹¹  was without shape and empty, ¹²  and darkness ¹³  was over the surface of the watery deep, ¹⁴  but the Spirit of God ¹⁵  was moving ¹⁶  over the surface ¹⁷  of the water. ¹⁸ 

Genesis 12:12

12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. ¹⁹ 

Genesis 16:10-12

16:10 I will greatly multiply your descendants,” the Lord’s angel added, ²⁰  “so that they will be too numerous to count.” ²¹  16:11 Then the Lord’s angel said to her,

“You are now ²²  pregnant

and are about to give birth ²³  to a son.

You are to name him Ishmael, ²⁴ 

for the Lord has heard your painful groans. ²⁵ 

16:12 He will be a wild donkey ²⁶  of a man.

He will be hostile to everyone, ²⁷ 

and everyone will be hostile to him. ²⁸ 

He will live away from ²⁹  his brothers.”

Genesis 17:14

17:14 Any uncircumcised male ³⁰  who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off ³¹  from his people – he has failed to carry out my requirement.” ³² 

Job 1:21

1:21 He said, “Naked ³³  I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. ³⁴  The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. ³⁵  May the name of the Lord ³⁶  be blessed!”

Psalms 105:16-17

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

he cut off all the food supply. ³⁷ 

105:17 He sent a man ahead of them ³⁸  –

Joseph was sold as a servant.

Acts 2:23-24

2:23 this man, who was handed over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you executed ³⁹  by nailing him to a cross at the hands of Gentiles. ⁴⁰  2:24 But God raised him up, ⁴¹  having released ⁴²  him from the pains ⁴³  of death, because it was not possible for him to be held in its power. ⁴⁴ 

Acts 4:24-28

4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one mind ⁴⁵  and said, “Master of all, ⁴⁶  you who made the heaven, the earth, ⁴⁷  the sea, and everything that is in them, 4:25 who said by the Holy Spirit through ⁴⁸  your servant David our forefather, ⁴⁹ 

‘Why do the nations ⁵⁰  rage, ⁵¹ 

and the peoples plot foolish ⁵²  things?

4:26 The kings of the earth stood together, ⁵³ 

and the rulers assembled together,

against the Lord and against his ⁵⁴  Christ.’ ⁵⁵ 

4:27 “For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against ⁵⁶  your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, ⁵⁷  4:28 to do as much as your power ⁵⁸  and your plan ⁵⁹  had decided beforehand ⁶⁰  would happen.

Acts 7:9-15

7:9 The ⁶¹  patriarchs, because they were jealous of Joseph, sold ⁶²  him into Egypt. But ⁶³  God was with him, 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 ⁶⁴  him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 7:11 Then a famine occurred throughout ⁶⁵  Egypt and Canaan, causing ⁶⁶  great suffering, and our ⁶⁷  ancestors ⁶⁸  could not find food. 7:12 So when Jacob heard that there was grain ⁶⁹  in Egypt, he sent our ancestors ⁷⁰  there ⁷¹  the first time. 7:13 On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family ⁷²  became known to Pharaoh. 7:14 So Joseph sent a message ⁷³  and invited ⁷⁴  his father Jacob and all his relatives to come, seventy-five people ⁷⁵  in all. 7:15 So Jacob went down to Egypt and died there, ⁷⁶  along with our ancestors, ⁷⁷ 

[45:7]  ¹ sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

[45:7]  ² tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ³ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.

[45:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[47:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “we find favor in the eyes of my lord.” Some interpret this as a request, “may we find favor in the eyes of my lord.”

[47:25]  ⁶ sn Slaves. See the note on this word in v. 21.

[50:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[50:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “fell on.” The expression describes Joseph’s unrestrained sorrow over Jacob’s death; he probably threw himself across the body and embraced his father.

[1:2]  ¹⁰ tn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + subject + verb) at the beginning of v. 2 gives background information for the following narrative, explaining the state of things when “God said…” (v. 3). Verse one is a title to the chapter, v. 2 provides information about the state of things when God spoke, and v. 3 begins the narrative per se with the typical narrative construction (vav [ו] consecutive followed by the prefixed verbal form). (This literary structure is paralleled in the second portion of the book: Gen 2:4 provides the title or summary of what follows, 2:5-6 use disjunctive clause structures to give background information for the following narrative, and 2:7 begins the narrative with the vav consecutive attached to a prefixed verbal form.) Some translate 1:2a “and the earth became,” arguing that v. 1 describes the original creation of the earth, while v. 2 refers to a judgment that reduced it to a chaotic condition. Verses 3ff. then describe the re-creation of the earth. However, the disjunctive clause at the beginning of v. 2 cannot be translated as if it were relating the next event in a sequence. If v. 2 were sequential to v. 1, the author would have used the vav consecutive followed by a prefixed verbal form and the subject.

[1:2]  ¹¹ tn That is, what we now call “the earth.” The creation of the earth as we know it is described in vv. 9-10. Prior to this the substance which became the earth (= dry land) lay dormant under the water.

[1:2]  ¹² tn Traditional translations have followed a more literal rendering of “waste and void.” The words describe a condition that is without form and empty. What we now know as “the earth” was actually an unfilled mass covered by water and darkness. Later תֹהוּ (tohu) and בֹּהוּ (bohu), when used in proximity, describe a situation resulting from judgment (Isa 34:11; Jer 4:23). Both prophets may be picturing judgment as the reversal of creation in which God’s judgment causes the world to revert to its primordial condition. This later use of the terms has led some to conclude that Gen 1:2 presupposes the judgment of a prior world, but it is unsound method to read the later application of the imagery (in a context of judgment) back into Gen 1:2.

[1:2]  ¹³ sn Darkness. The Hebrew word simply means “darkness,” but in the Bible it has come to symbolize what opposes God, such as judgment (Exod 10:21), death (Ps 88:13), oppression (Isa 9:1), the wicked (1 Sam 2:9) and in general, sin. In Isa 45:7 it parallels “evil.” It is a fitting cover for the primeval waste, but it prepares the reader for the fact that God is about to reveal himself through his works.

[1:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 7:11).

[1:2]  ¹⁵ tn The traditional rendering “Spirit of God” is preserved here, as opposed to a translation like “wind from/breath of God” (cf. NRSV) or “mighty wind” (cf. NEB), taking the word “God” to represent the superlative. Elsewhere in the OT the phrase refers consistently to the divine spirit that empowers and energizes individuals (see Gen 41:38; Exod 31:3; 35:31; Num 24:2; 1 Sam 10:10; 11:6; 19:20, 23; Ezek 11:24; 2 Chr 15:1; 24:20).

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew verb has been translated “hovering” or “moving” (as a bird over her young, see Deut 32:11). The Syriac cognate term means “to brood over; to incubate.” How much of that sense might be attached here is hard to say, but the verb does depict the presence of the Spirit of God moving about mysteriously over the waters, presumably preparing for the acts of creation to follow. If one reads “mighty wind” (cf. NEB) then the verse describes how the powerful wind begins to blow in preparation for the creative act described in vv. 9-10. (God also used a wind to drive back the flood waters in Noah’s day. See Gen 8:1.)

[1:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “face.”

[1:2]  ¹⁸ sn The water. The text deliberately changes now from the term for the watery deep to the general word for water. The arena is now the life-giving water and not the chaotic abyss-like deep. The change may be merely stylistic, but it may also carry some significance. The deep carries with it the sense of the abyss, chaos, darkness – in short, that which is not good for life.

[12:12]  ¹⁹ tn The Piel of the verb חָיָה (khayah, “to live”) means “to keep alive, to preserve alive,” and in some places “to make alive.” See D. Marcus, “The Verb ‘to Live’ in Ugaritic,” JSS 17 (1972): 76-82.

[16:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “The Lord’s angel said, ‘I will greatly multiply your descendants….” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[16:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “cannot be numbered because of abundance.”

[16:11]  ²² tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) focuses on her immediate situation: “Here you are pregnant.”

[16:11]  ²³ tn The active participle refers here to something that is about to happen.

[16:11]  ²⁴ sn The name Ishmael consists of the imperfect or jussive form of the Hebrew verb with the theophoric element added as the subject. It means “God hears” or “may God hear.”

[16:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “affliction,” which must refer here to Hagar’s painful groans of anguish.

[16:12]  ²⁶ sn A wild donkey of a man. The prophecy is not an insult. The wild donkey lived a solitary existence in the desert away from society. Ishmael would be free-roaming, strong, and like a bedouin; he would enjoy the freedom his mother sought.

[16:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “His hand will be against everyone.” The “hand” by metonymy represents strength. His free-roaming life style would put him in conflict with those who follow social conventions. There would not be open warfare, only friction because of his antagonism to their way of life.

[16:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “And the hand of everyone will be against him.”

[16:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “opposite, across from.” Ishmael would live on the edge of society (cf. NASB “to the east of”). Some take this as an idiom meaning “be at odds with” (cf. NRSV, NLT) or “live in hostility toward” (cf. NIV).

[17:14]  ³⁰ tn The disjunctive clause calls attention to the “uncircumcised male” and what will happen to him.

[17:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “that person will be cut off.” The words “that person” have not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:14]  ³² tn Heb “he has broken my covenant.” The noun בְּרִית (bÿrit) here refers to the obligation required by God in conjunction with the covenantal agreement. For the range of meaning of the term, see the note on the word “requirement” in v. 9.

[1:21]  ³³ tn The adjective “naked” is functioning here as an adverbial accusative of state, explicative of the state of the subject. While it does include the literal sense of nakedness at birth, Job is also using it symbolically to mean “without possessions.”

[1:21]  ³⁴ sn While the first half of the couplet is to be taken literally as referring to his coming into this life, this second part must be interpreted only generally to refer to his departure from this life. It is parallel to 1 Tim 6:7, “For we have brought nothing into this world and so we cannot take a single thing out either.”

[1:21]  ³⁵ tn The two verbs are simple perfects. (1) They can be given the nuance of gnomic imperfect, expressing what the sovereign God always does. This is the approach taken in the present translation. Alternatively (2) they could be referring specifically to Job’s own experience: “Yahweh gave [definite past, referring to his coming into this good life] and Yahweh has taken away” [present perfect, referring to his great losses]. Many English versions follow the second alternative.

[1:21]  ³⁶ sn Some commentators are troubled by the appearance of the word “Yahweh” on the lips of Job, assuming that the narrator inserted his own name for God into the story-telling. Such thinking is based on the assumption that Yahweh was only a national god of Israel, unknown to anyone else in the ancient world. But here is a clear indication that a non-Israelite, Job, knew and believed in Yahweh.

[105:16]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn After the reference to the famine in v. 16, v. 17 flashes back to events that preceded the famine (see Gen 37).

[2:23]  ³⁹ tn Or “you killed.”

[2:23]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “at the hands of lawless men.” At this point the term ἄνομος (anomo") refers to non-Jews who live outside the Jewish (Mosaic) law, rather than people who broke any or all laws including secular laws. Specifically it is a reference to the Roman soldiers who carried out Jesus’ crucifixion.

[2:24]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Whom God raised up.”

[2:24]  ⁴² tn Or “having freed.”

[2:24]  ⁴³ sn The term translated pains is frequently used to describe pains associated with giving birth (see Rev 12:2). So there is irony here in the mixed metaphor.

[2:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “for him to be held by it” (in either case, “it” refers to death’s power).

[4:24]  ⁴⁵ sn With one mind. Compare Acts 1:14.

[4:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “Lord of all.”

[4:24]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “and the earth, and the sea,” but καί (kai) has not been translated before “the earth” and “the sea” since contemporary English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “by the mouth of” (an idiom).

[4:25]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “ancestor”; Grk “father.”

[4:25]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “Gentiles.”

[4:25]  ⁵¹ sn The Greek word translated rage includes not only anger but opposition, both verbal and nonverbal. See L&N 88.185.

[4:25]  ⁵² tn Or “futile”; traditionally, “vain.”

[4:26]  ⁵³ tn Traditionally, “The kings of the earth took their stand.”

[4:26]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[4:26]  ⁵⁵ sn A quotation from Ps 2:1-2.

[4:27]  ⁵⁶ sn The application of Ps 2:1-2 is that Jews and Gentiles are opposing Jesus. The surprise of the application is that Jews are now found among the enemies of God’s plan.

[4:27]  ⁵⁷ sn A wordplay on “Christ,” v. 26, which means “one who has been anointed.”

[4:28]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “hand,” here a metaphor for God’s strength or power or authority.

[4:28]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “purpose,” “will.”

[4:28]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “had predestined.” Since the term “predestine” is something of a technical theological term, not in wide usage in contemporary English, the translation “decide beforehand” was used instead (see L&N 30.84). God’s direction remains as the major theme.

[7:9]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “And the.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[7:9]  ⁶² tn The meaning “sell” for the middle voice of ἀποδίδωμι (apodidwmi) is given by BDAG 110 s.v. 5.a. See Gen 37:12-36, esp. v. 28.

[7:9]  ⁶³ tn Though the Greek term here is καί (kai), in context this remark is clearly contrastive: Despite the malicious act, God was present and protected Joseph.

[7:10]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “appointed.” See Gen 41:41-43.

[7:11]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “came upon all Egypt.”

[7:11]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “and,” but logically causal.

[7:11]  ⁶⁷ sn Our. Stephen spoke of “our” ancestors (Grk “fathers”) in an inclusive sense throughout the speech until his rebuke in v. 51, where the nation does what “your” ancestors did, at which point an exclusive pronoun is used. This serves to emphasize the rebuke.

[7:11]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:12]  ⁶⁹ tn Or possibly “food,” since in a number of extrabiblical contexts the phrase σιτία καὶ ποτά (sitia kai pota) means “food and drink,” where solid food is contrasted with liquid nourishment (L&N 3.42).

[7:12]  ⁷⁰ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:12]  ⁷¹ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[7:13]  ⁷² tn BDAG 194 s.v. γένος 2. gives “family, relatives” here; another alternative is “race” (see v. 19).

[7:14]  ⁷³ tn The words “a message” are not in the Greek text, but are implied.

[7:14]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “Joseph had his father summoned” (BDAG 121 s.v. ἀποστέλλω 2.b).

[7:14]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “souls” (here an idiom for the whole person).

[7:15]  ⁷⁶ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[7:15]  ⁷⁷ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”