37:2 This is the account of Jacob.
Joseph, his seventeen-year-old son, 2 was taking care of 3 the flocks with his brothers. Now he was a youngster 4 working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. 5 Joseph brought back a bad report about them 6 to their father.
3:1 Now the boy Samuel continued serving the Lord under Eli’s supervision. 7 Word from the Lord was rare in those days; revelatory visions were infrequent.
9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust.
3:5 The people 8 of Nineveh believed in God, 9 and they declared a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 10
1 tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”
2 tn Heb “a son of seventeen years.” The word “son” is in apposition to the name “Joseph.”
3 tn Or “tending”; Heb “shepherding” or “feeding.”
4 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.
5 tn Heb “and he [was] a young man with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father.”
6 tn Heb “their bad report.” The pronoun is an objective genitive, specifying that the bad or damaging report was about the brothers.
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.
7 tn Heb “before Eli.”
8 tn Heb “men.” The term is used generically here for “people” (so KJV, ASV, and many other English versions); cf. NIV “the Ninevites.”
9 sn The people of Nineveh believed in God…. Verse 5 provides a summary of the response in Nineveh; the people of all ranks believed and gave evidence of contrition by fasting and wearing sackcloth (2 Sam 12:16, 19-23; 1 Kgs 21:27-29; Neh 9:1-2). Then vv. 6-9 provide specific details, focusing on the king’s reaction. The Ninevites’ response parallels the response of the pagan sailors in 1:6 and 13-16.
10 tn Heb “from the greatest of them to the least of them.”