Genesis 6:19

6:19 You must bring into the ark two of every kind of living creature from all flesh, ¹  male and female, to keep them alive ²  with you.

Genesis 41:45

41:45 Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. ³  He also gave him Asenath ⁴  daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, ⁵  to be his wife. So Joseph took charge of ⁶  all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 45:6-8

45:6 For these past two years there has been famine in ⁷  the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 45:7 God sent me ⁸  ahead of you to preserve you ⁹  on the earth and to save your lives ¹⁰  by a great deliverance. 45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ¹¹  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Genesis 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ¹²  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ¹³ 

Proverbs 11:26-27

11:26 People will curse ¹⁴  the one who withholds grain, ¹⁵ 

but they will praise ¹⁶  the one who sells it. ¹⁷ 

11:27 The one who diligently seeks ¹⁸  good seeks favor,

but the one who searches ¹⁹  for evil – it will come to him. ²⁰ 

[6:19]  ¹ tn Heb “from all life, from all flesh, two from all you must bring.” The disjunctive clause at the beginning of the verse (note the conjunction with prepositional phrase, followed by two more prepositional phrases in apposition and then the imperfect verb form) signals a change in mood from announcement (vv. 17-18) to instruction.

[6:19]  ² tn The Piel infinitive construct לְהַחֲיוֹת (lÿhakhayot, here translated as “to keep them alive”) shows the purpose of bringing the animals into the ark – saving life. The Piel of this verb means here “to preserve alive.”

[41:45]  ³ sn The meaning of Joseph’s Egyptian name, Zaphenath-Paneah, is uncertain. Many recent commentators have followed the proposal of G. Steindorff that it means “the god has said, ‘he will live’” (“Der Name Josephs Saphenat-Pa‘neach,” ZÄS 31 [1889]: 41-42); others have suggested “the god speaks and lives” (see BDB 861 s.v. צָפְנָת פַּעְנֵחַ); “the man he knows” (J. Vergote, Joseph en Égypte, 145); or “Joseph [who is called] áIp-àankh” (K. A. Kitchen, NBD³ 1262).

[41:45]  ⁴ sn The name Asenath may mean “she belongs to the goddess Neit” (see HALOT 74 s.v. אָֽסְנַת). A novel was written at the beginning of the first century entitled Joseph and Asenath, which included a legendary account of the conversion of Asenath to Joseph’s faith in Yahweh. However, all that can be determined from this chapter is that their children received Hebrew names. See also V. Aptowitzer, “Asenath, the Wife of Joseph – a Haggadic Literary-Historical Study,” HUCA 1 (1924): 239-306.

[41:45]  ⁵ sn On (also in v. 50) is another name for the city of Heliopolis.

[41:45]  ⁶ tn Heb “and he passed through.”

[45:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”

[45:7]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ¹⁰ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.

[45:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[50:20]  ¹² tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[11:26]  ¹⁴ tn The direct object suffix on the verb picks up on the emphatic absolute phrase: “they will curse him – the one who withholds grain.”

[11:26]  ¹⁵ sn The proverb refers to a merchant who holds back his grain from the free market to raise prices when there is a great need for the produce. It is assumed that merchants are supposed to have a social conscience.

[11:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “but a blessing is for the head of the one who sells.” The parallelism with “curse” suggests that בְּרָכָה (berakhah) “blessing” means “praise.”

[11:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for the head of the one who sells.” The term “head” functions as a synecdoche of part (= head) for the whole (= person). The head is here emphasized because it is the “crowning” point of praise. The direct object (“it”) is not in the Hebrew text but is implied.

[11:27]  ¹⁸ tn Two separate words are used here for “seek.” The first is שָׁחַר (shakhar, “to seek diligently”) and the second is בָּקַשׁ (baqash, “to seek after; to look for”). Whoever is seeking good is in effect seeking favor – from either God or man (e.g., Ps 5:12; Isa 49:8).

[11:27]  ¹⁹ tn The participle דֹּרֵשׁ (doresh) means “to seek; to inquire; to investigate.” A person generally receives the consequences of the kind of life he seeks.

[11:27]  ²⁰ tn The verb is the imperfect tense, third feminine singular, referring to “evil,” the object of the participle.