Kejadian 37:2

37:2 This is the account of Jacob.

Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, ¹  was taking care of ²  the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster ³  working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. ⁴  Joseph brought back a bad report about them ⁵  to their father.

Kejadian 38:14

38:14 So she removed her widow’s clothes and covered herself with a veil. She wrapped herself and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the way to Timnah. (She did this because ⁶  she saw that she had not been given to Shelah as a wife, even though he had now grown up.) ⁷ 

Kejadian 42:38

42:38 But Jacob ⁸  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ⁹  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ¹⁰  in sorrow to the grave.” ¹¹ 

Kejadian 48:14

48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. ¹²  Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

[37:2]  ¹ tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”

[37:2]  ² tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”

[37:2]  ³ tn Or perhaps “a helper.” The significance of this statement is unclear. It may mean “now the lad was with,” or it may suggest Joseph was like a servant to them.

[37:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”

[37:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.

[37:2]  sn Some interpreters portray Joseph as a tattletale for bringing back a bad report about them [i.e., his brothers], but the entire Joseph story has some of the characteristics of wisdom literature. Joseph is presented in a good light – not because he was perfect, but because the narrative is showing how wisdom rules. In light of that, this section portrays Joseph as faithful to his father in little things, even though unpopular – and so he will eventually be given authority over greater things.

[38:14]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text simply has “because,” connecting this sentence to what precedes. For stylistic reasons the words “she did this” are supplied in the translation and a new sentence begun.

[38:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she was not given to him as a wife.”

[42:38]  ⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ⁹ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ¹⁰ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.

[48:14]  ¹² tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.