Kejadian 47:4

47:4 Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Kejadian 47:19

47:19 Why should we die before your very eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we, with our land, will become ³  Pharaoh’s slaves. ⁴  Give us seed that we may live ⁵  and not die. Then the land will not become desolate.” ⁶ 

Kejadian 50:5

50:5 ‘My father made me swear an oath. He said, ⁷  “I am about to die. Bury me ⁸  in my tomb that I dug for myself there in the land of Canaan.” Now let me go and bury my father; then I will return.’”

[47:4]  ¹ tn Heb “to sojourn.”

[47:4]  ² tn 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.

[47:19]  ³ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates consequence.

[47:19]  ⁴ sn Pharaoh’s slaves. The idea of slavery is not attractive to the modern mind, but in the ancient world it was the primary way of dealing with the poor and destitute. If the people became slaves of Pharaoh, it was Pharaoh’s responsibility to feed them and care for them. It was the best way for them to survive the famine.

[47:19]  ⁵ tn After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav here indicates purpose or result.

[47:19]  ⁶ tn The disjunctive clause structure (vav [ו] + subject + negated verb) highlights the statement and brings their argument to a conclusion.

[50:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “saying.”

[50:5]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verbal form here has the force of a command.