Genesis 37

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Translator Notes

1. 'Settled' (vayyeshev) — the verb yashav ('to dwell, settle') opens the Joseph narrative with a note of permanence. Jacob has returned from his long exile and now inhabits the promised land. Yet the verb carries irony: Jacob 'settles,' but his family is about to be torn apart and eventually uprooted to Egypt.
2. 'The land of his father's sojournings' (erets megurei aviv) — megurim ('sojournings') derives from gur ('to sojourn as an alien'). The land is simultaneously home and foreign territory. Abraham and Isaac dwelt there as resident aliens (gerim), not owners. Jacob now inhabits the same paradox: he is settled in a land that is promised but not yet possessed.

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Translator Notes

1. 'These are the generations of Jacob' (elleh toledot Ya'aqov) — the final toledot formula in Genesis. Strikingly, though it says 'generations of Jacob,' the narrative immediately focuses on Joseph. The toledot of Jacob is the story of Joseph — the favored son through whom the family's destiny unfolds. This literary device signals that what follows is not merely Joseph's biography but the culmination of Jacob's entire family saga.
2. 'Bad report' (dibbatam ra'ah) — dibbah means a report, usually with negative connotations (slander, defamation, or simply a report of wrongdoing). Whether Joseph was tattling or faithfully reporting genuine misconduct is left deliberately ambiguous. The text neither condemns nor commends Joseph's action, but it establishes him as set apart from his brothers — aligned with his father rather than his peers.
3. 'A youth among the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah' — Joseph is specifically placed with the sons of the concubine-wives, the lower-status brothers. This detail may explain why Joseph had opportunity to observe and report their behavior, and may also suggest his own intermediate social position despite being Rachel's son.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons' (Yisra'el ahav et-Yosef mikkol-banav) — the narrator uses 'Israel' rather than 'Jacob,' emphasizing the patriarch's covenant identity. The phrase 'loved more than all' (ahav... mikkol) echoes the pattern of preference that has plagued the family for generations: Isaac loved Esau, Rebekah loved Jacob (25:28), Jacob loved Rachel over Leah (29:30). Parental favoritism is the recurring wound of the patriarchal family.
2. 'Son of his old age' (ben-zequnim) — Benjamin was actually younger, so this phrase may mean 'the son born in his mature years' or may carry the nuance of 'the son of his wisdom,' a child who is the comfort of aging. Some suggest it means the son who attends him in old age.
3. 'Ornamented robe' (ketonet passim) — the traditional rendering 'coat of many colors' derives from the LXX (chitōn poikilon). The Hebrew passim is obscure; it may relate to pas ('palm, sole'), suggesting a garment reaching to the palms and soles (a long-sleeved, full-length robe), or to decorative strips or patches. The same term describes the royal garment of Tamar, David's daughter (2 Sam 13:18-19), indicating it was a garment of distinction, possibly aristocratic or even royal. The rendering 'ornamented robe' captures the sense of an exceptional, status-marking garment without over-specifying.

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Translator Notes

1. 'They hated him' (vayyisne'u oto) — the verb sane' ('to hate') is strong and unqualified. The brothers' hatred is presented as a direct consequence of the father's favoritism. The text distributes culpability: Jacob's preferential love creates the conditions for the brothers' destructive hatred.
2. 'Could not speak peaceably to him' (velo yakhelu dabbero leshalom) — literally 'could not speak to him for peace (shalom).' The inability to speak shalom is the collapse of familial relationship. Shalom encompasses wholeness, well-being, and harmonious relationship. Its absence means communication itself has broken down. This detail foreshadows the bitter irony of v. 14, where Jacob sends Joseph to inquire about the shalom of his brothers — brothers who have no shalom to give.

Translator Notes

1. 'Dreamed a dream' (vayyachalom... chalom) — the cognate accusative construction (dreaming a dream) intensifies the experience. Dreams in Genesis are vehicles of divine communication (20:3; 28:12; 31:10-11), and in the Joseph narrative they become the primary mode of revelation. Joseph is introduced here as a dreamer — a role that will define his destiny.
2. 'They hated him even more' (vayyosifu od seno oto) — the verb yasaf ('to add, do again') with seno ('to hate') indicates escalation. Each new provocation compounds the brothers' animosity. The narrative builds tension incrementally: favoritism (v. 3) → hatred (v. 4) → increased hatred (v. 5) → still more hatred (v. 8).

Translator Notes

1. 'Please listen' (shim'u-na) — the particle na ('please, I pray') softens the imperative, yet the very act of summoning his brothers to hear his dream of supremacy reveals either naivety or provocation. Joseph seems genuinely eager to share his vision without calculating its effect.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Behold... behold... behold' (vehinneh... vehinneh... vehinneh) — three instances of hinneh ('behold') create vivid, scene-by-scene narration, as if Joseph is reliving the dream. Each hinneh introduces a new movement: the binding, the rising, the bowing. The effect is cinematic.
2. 'My sheaf arose and stood upright' (qamah alummati vegam-nitstsavah) — two verbs of elevation: qum ('to arise') and natsav ('to stand firm, be stationed'). Joseph's sheaf doesn't merely rise — it stands established, planted with authority. The double verb intensifies the imagery of dominion.
3. 'Your sheaves gathered around and bowed down' (tessubeynah alumoteikhem vatishtachaveynah) — the verb chavah in the hishtaphel ('to bow down, prostrate oneself') is the language of homage and worship. The brothers' sheaves encircle and prostrate before Joseph's. The agricultural imagery is not accidental — it anticipates the literal grain that will bring the brothers to bow before Joseph in Egypt (42:6).

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Translator Notes

1. 'Will you indeed reign... will you indeed rule' (hamalokh timlokh... im-mashol timshol) — two infinitive absolute constructions (malokh timlokh, mashol timshol) express incredulous emphasis. The brothers use two distinct verbs: malakh ('to reign as king') and mashal ('to rule, govern'). Their sarcasm inadvertently becomes prophecy — Joseph will indeed exercise both royal authority and governing power in Egypt.
2. 'Because of his dreams and because of his words' (al-chalomotav ve'al-devarav) — the brothers' hatred has a double source: the content of the dreams (which implies their subjugation) and Joseph's words (his act of telling, which implies either arrogance or insensitivity). Dreams and words — revelation and proclamation — together provoke the crisis.

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Translator Notes

1. 'The sun and the moon and eleven stars' (hashemesh vehayareach ve'achad asar kokhavim) — the dream escalates from agricultural imagery to cosmic. Joseph's first dream depicted fraternal dominance; this one extends to the entire family, including the parents. Sun = father (Jacob), moon = mother (here problematic, since Rachel is dead by this point — see 35:19), eleven stars = eleven brothers. The cosmic scale of the imagery anticipates Joseph's role as the savior of nations.
2. 'Were bowing down to me' (mishtachavim li) — the same root (ch-v-h, hishtaphel) as in the first dream, but now the heavenly bodies themselves perform the obeisance. The dream's scope has expanded from earth to heaven.

Translator Notes

1. 'His father rebuked him' (vayyig'ar-bo aviv) — ga'ar means to rebuke sharply, to scold. Even the favoring father finds this dream too much. Yet the rebuke is measured — it is a question, not a condemnation. Jacob challenges the dream's plausibility rather than denouncing Joseph's character.
2. 'Your mother' (immekha) — Rachel has already died (35:19). Jacob may be speaking loosely, referring to Leah or Bilhah (Rachel's maidservant who may have served as surrogate mother), or the dream's symbolism may not require literal correspondence. The reference creates a tension the text does not resolve.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Were jealous' (vayeqan'u) — the verb qana' means to be jealous, zealous, or envious. It shifts the brothers' response from mere hatred to envy — they not only despise Joseph but covet his favored position and divine attention. Jealousy implies that the brothers recognize the dreams may be genuine, which makes them all the more threatening.
2. 'His father kept the matter in mind' (ve'aviv shamar et-haddavar) — shamar ('to keep, guard, watch over') suggests Jacob stored the dream away for contemplation. He rebuked publicly but pondered privately. The phrase echoes Luke 2:19, 51 ('Mary kept all these things in her heart'), though the parallel may be coincidental. Jacob recognizes something significant in Joseph's dreams even as he resists their implications.

Translator Notes

1. 'Shechem' — the brothers return to the very place where Simeon and Levi perpetrated the massacre (ch. 34). The location carries ominous overtones. Shechem is dangerous territory for Jacob's family, both because of what they did there and because of how they might be perceived by the surrounding peoples. That the brothers go there to pasture flocks suggests either boldness or indifference to the danger.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Here I am' (hinneni) — Joseph's response echoes the great responses of obedience in Genesis: Abraham's hinneni before the binding of Isaac (22:1), and later Moses at the burning bush (Exod 3:4). The word signals readiness and willing submission. Joseph goes willingly, unaware that he is walking toward betrayal. The innocent obedience of the son sent by the father to his brothers carries deep typological resonance.
2. 'I will send you' (ve'eshalachakha) — the verb shalach ('to send') establishes Joseph as a sent one. The irony is layered: Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers' welfare, but this sending will result in Joseph's own suffering and ultimately in the salvation of the entire family.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'See to the welfare' (re'eh et-shelom) — literally 'see the shalom of your brothers.' Jacob sends Joseph to find the very thing the brothers cannot offer him (v. 4 — they 'could not speak shalom to him'). The quest for shalom among brothers who have no shalom for Joseph is one of the chapter's central ironies.
2. 'From the Valley of Hebron' (me'emeq Chevron) — Hebron sits on a ridge; there is no literal valley of Hebron. The phrase may refer to the broader lowland region near Hebron, or it may function as a symbolic marker: Joseph descends from the place where Abraham and Sarah are buried, the seat of the patriarchal promise, into a journey that will lead far from the promised land.
3. Register departure: shalom rendered as 'welfare' rather than default 'peace' because Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers' well-being (shelom) — a health/status inquiry, not a state of peace.

Translator Notes

1. 'A man found him' (vayyimtsa'ehu ish) — the unnamed man is one of Genesis's mysterious figures. Some rabbinic interpreters identify him as an angel (Gabriel, according to Rashi), since he appears providentially to redirect Joseph toward his destiny. The text leaves his identity unspecified, allowing the reader to sense divine guidance operating through an ordinary encounter.
2. 'Wandering in the field' (to'eh basadeh) — the participle to'eh ('wandering, going astray') suggests Joseph is lost. The image of the obedient son, sent by his father, now wandering without direction, is poignant. He needs guidance to reach his brothers — the very brothers who will betray him.

Translator Notes

1. 'I am seeking my brothers' (et-achai anokhi mevaqesh) — Joseph's statement is both simple and laden with meaning. He seeks his brothers not knowing they seek his destruction. The phrase resonates beyond the immediate narrative: the search for fraternal reconciliation will drive the entire Joseph story.

Translator Notes

1. 'Dothan' (Dotan) — a site about 13 miles north of Shechem, identified with modern Tell Dothan. It lay on a major trade route connecting the Jezreel Valley with the coastal road to Egypt. This geographical detail is crucial: the caravan route through Dothan is what makes the sale of Joseph to traveling merchants possible. Providence positions Joseph precisely where international commerce passes.

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Translator Notes

1. 'They conspired against him' (vayyitnakkelu oto) — the verb nakhal in the hitpael means to act with cunning, to scheme, to deal craftily. The same root appears in Numbers 25:18 for treacherous dealing. The brothers' plot is premeditated — they see Joseph approaching and begin scheming before he arrives. The distance between them (merachoq, 'from afar') gives them time to convert hatred into action.
2. 'To kill him' (lahamito) — the infinitive lahamit ('to cause to die, to kill') states the brothers' intent with stark clarity. The beloved son, sent by his father seeking shalom, is marked for death before he can even speak.

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Translator Notes

1. 'That master of dreams' (ba'al hachalomot hallazeh) — literally 'the owner/master of the dreams, this one.' Ba'al means 'lord, master, owner, possessor.' The title drips with sarcasm: they mock Joseph as the 'dream-lord,' the one who presumes sovereignty through his visions. The demonstrative hallazeh ('this one, that one') adds contempt — they will not even use his name. Yet ironically, ba'al hachalomot is an accurate title: Joseph does master dreams, both his own and others' (chs. 40-41), and this mastery will elevate him to a position where their very lives depend on him.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Let us kill him' (nahargehu) — the first-person plural cohortative reveals a collective decision. Murder is proposed as a group action — shared guilt distributes responsibility and makes it easier for each individual to participate.
2. 'A fierce animal devoured him' (chayyah ra'ah akhalathu) — the planned lie becomes Jacob's conclusion in v. 33. The brothers prepare their father's deception in advance. The phrase chayyah ra'ah ('an evil/fierce beast') will echo with bitter irony: the true 'evil beasts' are the brothers themselves.
3. 'We will see what becomes of his dreams' (venir'eh mah-yihyu chalomotav) — the brothers believe they can defeat divine revelation by eliminating the dreamer. This is the fundamental error: the dream is from God, and killing Joseph cannot annul God's purposes. Their very attempt to prevent the dreams' fulfillment sets in motion the chain of events that will fulfill them.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'Reuben heard and rescued him' (vayyishma Reuven vayyatsilehu miyyadam) — Reuben, the firstborn who lost his birthright through the Bilhah incident (35:22), here acts to protect Joseph. His intervention may stem from firstborn responsibility, genuine compassion, or a desire to restore himself in his father's eyes. The verb hitsil ('to rescue, deliver') is strong — Reuben's action is decisive, not merely passive objection.
2. 'Let us not strike his life' (lo nakkenu nafesh) — literally 'let us not strike him — a soul/life.' The word nefesh ('soul, life, being') personalizes Joseph: he is not merely a target but a living being. Reuben's language appeals to the brothers' recognition of Joseph's humanity.

Translator Notes

1. 'Do not shed blood' (al-tishpekhu-dam) — Reuben frames his proposal in terms of blood prohibition. Bloodshed (shephikhut damim) carries the weight of the Noahic covenant: 'Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed' (9:6). By appealing to this fundamental prohibition, Reuben gives the brothers a way to act against Joseph without crossing the ultimate boundary.
2. 'That he might rescue him... and restore him to his father' — the narrator reveals Reuben's private intention. His plan is to return later and pull Joseph from the pit. The strategy fails because Reuben is absent when the Midianite/Ishmaelite caravan arrives (v. 29). Good intentions without timely action prove insufficient.

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Translator Notes

1. 'They stripped Joseph of his robe' (vayyaphshitu et-Yosef et-kuttonto) — the first act of violence is to remove the symbol of his father's favor. Stripping the ketonet passim is an act of humiliation and de-identification: they remove his status before removing his freedom. The detailed repetition — 'his robe, the ornamented robe that was on him' — emphasizes the garment's significance. Clothing in Genesis regularly marks identity, status, and deception (Esau's garments in ch. 27, Tamar's veil in ch. 38).
2. The stripping of the robe anticipates the blood-dipped garment sent to Jacob (v. 31-32). The robe that signified love becomes the instrument of deception.

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Translator Notes

1. 'The pit was empty — there was no water in it' (vehabor req ein bo mayim) — the narrator's parenthetical detail creates a vivid image of desolation. A dry cistern in the wilderness is a place of death — without water, survival is measured in days. The rabbis noted that the specification 'no water' implies something else may have been in it (snakes, scorpions — Rashi). Whether or not one follows that reading, the emptiness of the pit mirrors the emptiness of the brothers' cruelty.
2. 'Pit' (bor) — a cistern hewn in rock for water storage. When empty, these cisterns served as makeshift prisons (Jer 38:6). The bor becomes a liminal space — between life and death, between freedom and slavery, between the promised land and Egypt. Joseph's descent into the pit is the first of several descents (to Egypt, to prison) before his ultimate ascent.

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Translator Notes

1. 'They sat down to eat a meal' (vayyeshvu le'ekhol-lechem) — the shocking detail: while Joseph languishes in the pit, his brothers eat. Their callousness is expressed not through cruelty but through normalcy. They have cast their brother into a death-pit and now sit for a casual meal. Amos 6:6 echoes this moral indifference: those 'who are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph.'
2. 'A caravan of Ishmaelites' (orchat Yishme'elim) — orchah means a traveling company, a caravan. The Ishmaelites are descendants of Abraham through Hagar (ch. 16, 25:12-18), making them Joseph's distant kinsmen. The irony deepens: Abraham's rejected son's descendants become the means of transporting Jacob's rejected son to Egypt.
3. 'Gum, balm, and myrrh' (nekho't utsri valot) — luxury trade goods. Nekho't is likely tragacanth gum; tsri is balm (the famous 'balm of Gilead,' Jer 8:22); lot is probably labdanum or myrrh. These aromatic goods were highly valued in Egypt for embalming and medicine. The caravan is heading to Egypt — precisely where Joseph's destiny lies.

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Translator Notes

1. 'What profit' (mah-betsa) — Judah's intervention is pragmatic rather than moral. The word betsa means 'gain, profit, unjust gain.' He does not appeal to conscience or kinship duty but to self-interest: there is nothing to gain from murder. This is morally ambiguous — Judah prevents fratricide but replaces it with the commodification of his brother. His character arc from this compromised beginning to his self-sacrificial speech in 44:18-34 is one of the great transformations in Scripture.
2. 'Cover up his blood' (vekhissinu et-damo) — an allusion to the belief that blood cries out from the ground (4:10, Abel's blood). Covering blood is an attempt to silence the witness of murder. Judah acknowledges that killing Joseph would require concealment — a tacit admission that the act would be unjust.

Translator Notes

1. 'He is our brother, our own flesh' (ki-achinu vesarenu hu) — Judah invokes kinship: 'brother' (ach) and 'flesh' (basar). The argument is that fraternal bonds preclude murder — but apparently not enslavement. The brothers' moral calculus is deeply compromised: they will not kill their brother, but they will sell him into lifelong bondage.
2. 'His brothers agreed' (vayyishme'u echav) — literally 'his brothers listened/heard.' The verb shama' can mean both 'to hear' and 'to obey.' Judah's voice carries authority among the brothers, foreshadowing his eventual leadership role in the family and the tribe that will bear his name.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Midianite traders' (anashim Midyanim socharim) — the relationship between Ishmaelites and Midianites in this chapter is a longstanding interpretive question. In v. 25, the caravan is Ishmaelite; here, Midianite traders appear. In 39:1, Potiphar buys Joseph from the Ishmaelites; in Judges 8:24, Ishmaelites and Midianites are explicitly connected. Possible explanations: (1) the terms were used interchangeably for nomadic traders; (2) the Midianites pulled Joseph from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites; (3) different narrative strands preserve different traditions. The rendering follows the text as given without harmonizing.
2. 'Twenty pieces of silver' (esrim kasef) — the price of a young male slave in the early second millennium BCE, consistent with ancient Near Eastern slave prices documented in texts from Mari and other sites. Later, the price rose to thirty pieces of silver (Exod 21:32, the price of a slave gored by an ox; Matt 26:15, the price of Judas's betrayal of Jesus). The specific amount anchors the narrative in economic reality while resonating with later biblical echoes.
3. 'They brought Joseph to Egypt' (vayyavi'u et-Yosef Mitsraymah) — the pivotal moment of the entire patriarchal narrative. Joseph's descent to Egypt sets in motion the events that will lead to Israel's sojourn, slavery, and eventual exodus. What the brothers intend as permanent disposal becomes God's means of preservation (50:20).

Translator Notes

1. 'Reuben returned to the pit' — Reuben's absence during the sale is unexplained. He apparently left the group, intending to return later and rescue Joseph (v. 22). His plan depended on timing, and the timing failed. The narrative creates pathos: the one brother who sought to save Joseph arrives too late.
2. 'He tore his garments' (vayyiqra et-begadav) — the tearing of garments (qeri'ah) is the quintessential expression of grief and horror in the Hebrew Bible. Reuben's grief is genuine — his rescue plan has collapsed. The irony of garments pervades this chapter: Joseph's robe is stripped (v. 23), Reuben tears his own clothes in grief (v. 29), Jacob will tear his garments in mourning (v. 34).

Translator Notes

1. 'The boy is gone!' (hayyeled einennu) — literally 'the boy — he is not.' The stark declaration of absence uses the participle einennu ('he is not'), which can also imply death (as in 42:13, 'one is no more'). Reuben does not know what happened — he assumes the worst.
2. 'And I — where shall I go?' (va'ani anah ani-va) — Reuben's anguished question reveals his personal crisis. As firstborn, he bears responsibility. How will he face his father? The repeated pronoun 'I' (ani... ani) intensifies his distress — the focus turns inward to his own predicament. His concern, though sympathetic, centers on himself rather than on Joseph's fate.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Slaughtered a male goat' (vayyishchatu se'ir izzim) — the goat becomes the instrument of deception. The choice of a goat is richly ironic: Jacob himself used goat skins to deceive his father Isaac (27:16). Now Jacob's sons use goat blood to deceive their father. The deception by goat comes full circle. The same type of animal connects the two great deceptions of the patriarchal narrative.
2. 'Dipped the robe in the blood' (vayyitbelu et-hakkuttonet baddam) — the ornamented robe that symbolized Jacob's love is transformed into false evidence of death. The blood-soaked garment is a fabricated crime scene. The brothers corrupt the symbol of favoritism into the instrument of grief.

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Translator Notes

1. 'Please examine' (hakker-na) — the verb nakhar (hiphil: 'to recognize, examine, identify') with the particle na ('please') is devastatingly calculated. The brothers force Jacob to identify the blood-soaked robe himself, making him the agent of his own torment. This exact phrase — hakker-na — echoes the deception of Genesis 38:25-26, where Tamar sends Judah's pledged items with the same words: 'Please examine — whose are these?' The verbal echo links the two chapters: the deceiver is deceived, and the one who orchestrated the deception of his father will himself be confronted by the same words.
2. 'Your son's robe' (ketonet binkha) — they say 'your son,' not 'our brother' or 'Joseph.' The distancing language reveals their rejection: Joseph belongs to Jacob, not to them. They disclaim fraternal relationship even in the act of presenting false evidence.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. 'He recognized it' (vayyakkireha) — the verb nakhar again. Jacob recognizes the robe just as the brothers intended. The man who deceived his own father through touch and clothing (ch. 27) is now deceived through sight and clothing. The poetic justice is precise: Jacob used goat skins and Esau's garments to steal a blessing; his sons use goat blood and Joseph's garment to steal his joy.
2. 'Joseph has surely been torn to pieces' (tarof toraf Yosef) — the infinitive absolute construction (tarof toraf) expresses absolute certainty. Jacob is utterly convinced. The verb taraf ('to tear, rend as a beast of prey') paints a vivid image of violent death. Jacob's grief is founded on a lie, but the grief itself is real and devastating.

Translator Notes

1. 'Tore his garments' (vayyiqra... simlotav) — the qeri'ah ritual of grief. Jacob joins Reuben (v. 29) in tearing clothes, but whereas Reuben's grief was brief, Jacob's mourning will extend 'many days' — indeed, over twenty years, until the revelation that Joseph lives (45:26-28).
2. 'Put sackcloth on his waist' (vayyasem saq bemotnav) — sackcloth (saq), a coarse fabric of goat or camel hair, was the garment of mourning, penitence, and grief throughout the ancient Near East. Worn against the skin at the waist, it was physically uncomfortable — an external manifestation of internal anguish.

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Translator Notes

1. 'All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him' — the bitter irony: the very sons who caused Jacob's grief now attempt to comfort him. Their consolation is built on their own lie. The mention of 'daughters' (benot) is notable — Dinah is the only daughter previously named, but the plural may include daughters-in-law or other daughters not previously mentioned.
2. 'He refused to be comforted' (vayema'en lehitnachem) — Jacob's refusal is not mere stubbornness but the expression of a grief that cannot be resolved. Comfort is possible when loss can be accepted; Jacob cannot accept Joseph's death because the mourning is built on falsehood. Paradoxically, his refusal to be comforted is the appropriate response to a death that has not occurred.
3. 'I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son' (ki-ered el-beni avel She'olah) — Sheol is the underworld, the realm of the dead in Hebrew cosmology. It is not hell but the shadowy abode where all the dead dwell (see also 42:38; 44:29, 31). Jacob expects to carry his grief into death itself. The verb 'go down' (ered) creates a geographical parallel: Joseph goes down to Egypt; Jacob vows to go down to Sheol. Descent characterizes the entire family's trajectory in this chapter.

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Translator Notes

1. 'The Medanites' (haMedanim) — yet another variant: here the text reads Medanim, not Midyanim (Midianites) as in v. 28. Medan and Midian were both sons of Abraham by Keturah (25:2), so the names may refer to closely related or overlapping groups. The text preserves a multiplicity of designations for the trading peoples who facilitated Joseph's journey to Egypt.
2. 'Potiphar' (Potifar) — an Egyptian name, likely from the Egyptian Pa-di-Pa-Ra, meaning 'he whom Ra has given.' The name connects Joseph's new master to Egyptian religion. Potiphar is identified with two titles: seris Par'oh ('officer/courtier of Pharaoh') and sar hattabbachim ('captain of the guard,' literally 'chief of the slaughterers/executioners'). The word seris can also mean 'eunuch,' though here it likely means 'court official.' Potiphar's position places Joseph at the intersection of Egyptian royal power.
3. The chapter ends with a split screen: Jacob mourns in Canaan; Joseph enters Egyptian servitude. The covenant family is fractured, and the resolution will take decades. Yet the narrator's matter-of-fact tone ('the Medanites sold him') hints that a larger purpose is at work beneath the surface of human cruelty.