Kejadian 45:7-8

45:7 God sent me ¹  ahead of you to preserve you ²  on the earth and to save your lives ³  by a great deliverance. 45:8 So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser ⁴  to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Kejadian 50:20

50:20 As for you, you meant to harm me, ⁵  but God intended it for a good purpose, so he could preserve the lives of many people, as you can see this day. ⁶ 

Ayub 10:12

10:12 You gave me ⁷  life and favor, ⁸ 

and your intervention ⁹  watched over my spirit.

Mazmur 105:17

105:17 He sent a man ahead of them ¹⁰  –

Joseph was sold as a servant.

[45:7]  ¹ sn God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).

[45:7]  ² tn Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lÿ), means “to make.”

[45:7]  ³ tn The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.

[45:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “a father.” The term is used here figuratively of one who gives advice, as a father would to his children.

[50:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “you devised against me evil.”

[50:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

[10:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “you made with me.”

[10:12]  ⁸ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 150) suggests that the relation between these two words is like a hendiadys. In other words, “life,” which he says is made prominent by the shift of the copula, specifies the nature of the grace. He renders it “the favor of life.” D. J. A. Clines at least acknowledges that the expression “you showed loyal love with me” is primary. There are many other attempts to improve the translation of this unusual combination.

[10:12]  ⁹ tn The noun פְּקָָֻדּה (pÿquddah), originally translated “visitation,” actually refers to any divine intervention for blessing on the life. Here it would include the care and overseeing of the life of Job. “Providence” may be too general for the translation, but it is not far from the meaning of this line. The LXX has “your oversight.”

[105:17]  ¹⁰ tn After the reference to the famine in v. 16, v. 17 flashes back to events that preceded the famine (see Gen 37).