Kejadian 41:2

41:2 seven fine-looking, fat cows were coming up out of the Nile, ¹  and they grazed in the reeds.

Ayub 8:11

8:11 Can the papyrus plant grow tall ²  where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish ³  without water?

Kisah Para Rasul 7:21

7:21 and when he had been abandoned, ⁴  Pharaoh’s daughter adopted ⁵  him and brought him up ⁶  as her own son.

[41:2]  ¹ tn Heb “And look, he was standing by the Nile, and look, from the Nile were coming up seven cows, attractive of appearance and fat of flesh.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the audience to see the dream through Pharaoh’s eyes.

[8:11]  ² sn H. H. Rowley observes the use of the words for plants that grow in Egypt and suspects that Bildad either knew Egypt or knew that much wisdom came from Egypt. The first word refers to papyrus, which grows to a height of six feet (so the verb means “to grow tall; to grow high”). The second word refers to the reed grass that grows on the banks of the river (see Gen 41:2, 18).

[8:11]  ³ tn The two verbs, גָּאָה (ga’ah) and שָׂגָה (sagah), have almost the same meanings of “flourish, grow, become tall.”

[7:21]  ⁴ tn Or “exposed” (see v. 19).

[7:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “Pharaoh’s daughter took him up for herself.” According to BDAG 64 s.v. ἀναιρέω, “The pap. exx. involve exposed children taken up and reared as slaves…The rendering ‘adopt’ lacks philological precision and can be used only in a loose sense (as NRSV), esp. when Gr-Rom. terminology relating to adoption procedures is taken into account.” In this instance both the immediate context and the OT account (Exod 2:3-10) do support the normal sense of the English word “adopt,” although it should not be understood to refer to a technical, legal event.

[7:21]  ⁶ tn Or “and reared him” (BDAG 74 s.v. ἀνατρέφω b).