Genesis 37:34-36 New English Translation
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth,[a] and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters stood by[b] him to console him, but he refused to be consoled. “No,” he said, “I will go to the grave mourning my son.”[c] So Joseph’s[d] father wept for him.
36 Now[e] in Egypt the Midianites[f] sold Joseph[g] to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.[h]
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- Genesis 37:34 tn Heb “and put sackcloth on his loins.”
- Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “arose, stood”; which here suggests that they stood by him in his time of grief.
- Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “and he said, ‘Indeed I will go down to my son mourning to Sheol.’” Sheol was viewed as the place where departed spirits went after death.
- Genesis 37:35 tn Heb “his”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 37:36 tn The disjunctive clause formally signals closure for this episode of Joseph’s story, which will be resumed in Gen 39.
- Genesis 37:36 tc The MT spells the name of the merchants as מְדָנִים (medanim, “Medanites”) rather than מִדְיָנִים (midyanim, “Midianites”) as in v. 28. It is likely that the letter י (yod) was accidentally omitted in the MT. The LXX, Vulgate, Smr, and Syriac read “Midianites” here. Some prefer to read “Medanites” both here and in v. 28, but Judg 8:24, which identifies the Midianites and Ishmaelites, favors the reading “Midianites.”
- Genesis 37:36 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Genesis 37:36 sn The expression captain of the guard might indicate that Potiphar was the chief executioner. The noun "guard" derives from a verb meaning to slaughter.
New English Translation (NET)
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