Kejadian 32:5

32:5 I have oxen, donkeys, sheep, and male and female servants. I have sent ¹  this message ²  to inform my lord, so that I may find favor in your sight.’”

Kejadian 42:15

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, ³  you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

[32:5]  ¹ tn Or “I am sending.” The form is a preterite with the vav consecutive; it could be rendered as an English present tense – as the Hebrew perfect/preterite allows – much like an epistolary aorist in Greek. The form assumes the temporal perspective of the one who reads the message.

[32:5]  ² tn The words “this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:15]  ³ tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

[42:15]  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.