translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “saw.”


text: Heb “Jacob.” Here the proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.


text: The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.


text: Heb “But Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, Jacob did not send with his brothers.” The disjunctive clause highlights the contrast between Benjamin and the other ten.


text: The Hebrew verb אָמַר (’ amar , “to say”) could also be translated “thought” (i.e., “he said to himself”) here, giving Jacob’s reasoning rather than spoken words.


text: The Hebrew noun אָסוֹן (’ ason ) is a rare word meaning “accident, harm.” Apart from its use in these passages it occurs in Exodus 21:22-23 of an accident to a pregnant woman. The term is a rather general one, but Jacob was no doubt thinking of his loss of Joseph.


text: Heb “encounters.”


text: Heb “in the midst of the coming ones.”


text: The disjunctive clause either introduces a new episode in the unfolding drama or provides the reader with supplemental information necessary to understanding the story.


text: The word “faces” is an adverbial accusative, so the preposition has been supplied in the translation.


text: Heb “said.”


text: The verb is denominative, meaning “to buy grain”; the word “food” could simply be the direct object, but may also be an adverbial accusative.


text: Heb “to see the nakedness of the land you have come.”


text: Heb “and they said to him.” In context this is best understood as an exclamation.


text: Heb “and he said, ‘No, for the nakedness of the land you have come to see.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “twelve [were] your servants, brothers [are] we.”


text: Heb “today.”


text: Heb “and the one is not.”


text: Heb “to you, saying.”


text: Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.” sn As surely as Pharaoh lives . Joseph uses an oath formula to let the brothers know the certainty of what he said. There is some discussion in the commentaries on swearing by the life of Pharaoh, but since the formulation here reflects the Hebrew practice, it would be hard to connect the ideas exactly to Egyptian practices. Joseph did this to make the point in a way that his Hebrew brothers would understand. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.


text: Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav ( ו ) indicates purpose.


text: The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.


text: Heb “bound.”


text: The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “the truth [is] with you.”


text: Heb “Do this.”


text: After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav ( ו ) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.


text: Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”


text: The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.


text: Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”


text: The imperfect here has an injunctive force.


text: After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.


text: The Niphal form of the verb has the sense of “to be faithful; to be sure; to be reliable.” Joseph will test his brothers to see if their words are true.


text: Heb “and they did so.”


text: Heb “a man to his neighbor.”


text: Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”


text: Heb “the distress of his soul.”


text: Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6 ). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.


text: The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.


text: “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.


text: Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.


text: Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”


text: Heb “took Simeon.” This was probably done at Joseph’s command, however; the grand vizier of Egypt would not have personally seized a prisoner.


text: Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”


text: Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120. f .


text: Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).


text: Heb “and they went from there.”


text: Heb “and the one.” The article indicates that the individual is vivid in the mind of the narrator, yet it is not important to identify him by name.


text: Heb “at the lodging place.”


text: Heb “and look, it [was] in the mouth of his sack.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה ( hinneh , “look”), the narrator invites the reader to look through the eyes of the character and thereby draws attention to the money.


text: Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”


text: Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”


text: Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.


text: Heb “made us.”


text: The words “if we were” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “twelve [were] we, brothers, sons of our father [are] we.”


text: Heb “the one is not.”


text: Heb “today.”


text: The word “grain” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav indicates purpose/result.


text: Heb “that you are not spies, that you are honest men.”


text: Heb “is not.”


text: The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.


text: The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.


text: Heb “my hand.”


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.