translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “Look they [are] in the land of Goshen.” Joseph draws attention to the fact of their presence in Goshen.


text: Heb “and from the whole of his brothers he took five men and presented them before Pharaoh.”


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


text: Heb “both we and our fathers.”


text: Heb “to sojourn.”


text: Heb “for there.” The Hebrew uses a causal particle to connect what follows with what precedes. The translation divides the statement into two sentences for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “men of skill.”


text: Heb “make them rulers.” sn Put them in charge of my livestock . Pharaoh is, in effect, offering Joseph’s brothers jobs as royal keepers of livestock, a position mentioned often in Egyptian inscriptions, because the Pharaohs owned huge herds of cattle.


text: Heb “caused him to stand.”


text: Heb “How many are the days of the years of your life?”


text: Heb “the days of.”


text: Heb “sojournings.” Jacob uses a term that depicts him as one who has lived an unsettled life, temporarily residing in many different places.


text: The Hebrew word רַע ( ra ’) can sometimes mean “evil,” but that would give the wrong connotation here, where it refers to pain, difficulty, and sorrow. Jacob is thinking back through all the troubles he had to endure to get to this point.


text: Heb “and they have not reached the days of the years of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.”


text: Heb “from before Pharaoh.”


text: Heb “a possession,” or “a holding.” Joseph gave them a plot of land with rights of ownership in the land of Goshen.


text: The verb לַהַה ( lahah , = לָאָה , la ’ ah ) means “to faint, to languish”; it figuratively describes the land as wasting away, drooping, being worn out.


text: Or “in exchange.” On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ .


text: Heb “house.”


text: Heb “all Egypt.” The expression is a metonymy and refers to all the people of Egypt.


text: The imperfect verbal form has a deliberative force here.


text: The word “food” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: On the use of the preposition here see BDB 90 s.v. בְּ .


text: The definite article is translated here as a possessive pronoun.


text: Heb “my.” The expression “my lord” occurs twice more in this verse.


text: After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.


text: After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.


text: The disjunctive clause structure ( vav [ ו ] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.


text: The Hebrew text connects this clause with the preceding one with a causal particle ( כִּי , ki ). The translation divides the clauses into two sentences for stylistic reasons.


text: The Hebrew text adds “upon them.” This has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


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


label: NET textual note

text: The MT reads “and the people he removed to the cities,” which does not make a lot of sense in this context. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the LXX read “he enslaved them as slaves.”


text: The perfect verbal form with the vav consecutive is equivalent to a command here.


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


text: 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.”


text: On the term translated “statute” see P. Victor, “A Note on Hoq in the Old Testament,” VT 16 (1966): 358-61.


text: The words “which is in effect” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: Heb “the days of the years.”


text: Heb “days.”


text: Or “deal with me in faithful love.”


text: Heb “lie down.” Here the expression “lie down” refers to death.


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


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


text: Heb “swear on oath to me.” The words “that you will do so” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “swore on oath to him.”


text: The MT reads מִטָּה ( mittah , “bed, couch”). The LXX reads the word as מַטֶּה ( matteh , “staff, rod”) and interprets this to mean that Jacob bowed down in worship while leaning on the top of his staff. The LXX reading was used in turn by the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews ( Heb 11:21 ).