Gen 45:4-7 | KD | STEP | Joseph then bade his brethren approach nearer, and said: “ I am Joseph, your brother, whom he sold into Egypt. But now be not grieved nor angry with yourselves (בּעיניכם אל־חר as in ) that ye sold me hither; for God hath sent me before you to preserve life .” Sic enim Joseph interpretatur venditionem. Vos quidem me vendidistis, sed Deus emit, asseruit et vindicavit me sibi pastorem, principem et salvatorem populorum eodem consilio, quo videbar amissus et perditus ( Luther ). “ For, ” he continues in explanation, “ now there are two years of famine in the land, and there are five years more, in which there will be no ploughing and reaping. And God hath sent me before you to establish you a remnant (cf. ) upon the earth (i.e., to secure to you the preservation of the tribe and of posterity during this famine), and to preserve your lives to a great deliverance, ” i.e., to a great nation delivered from destruction, cf. Gen 50:20. פּליטה that which has escaped, the band of men or multitude escaped from death and destruction (2Ki 19:30-31). Joseph announced prophetically here, that God had brought him into Egypt to preserve through him the family which He had chosen for His own nation, and to deliver them out of the danger of starvation which threatened them now, as a very great nation.

‏ Genesis 45:4-7

Joseph then bade his brethren approach nearer, and said: “I am Joseph, your brother, whom he sold into Egypt. But now be not grieved nor angry with yourselves (בּעיניכם אל־חר as in Gen 31:35) that ye sold me hither; for God hath sent me before you to preserve life.” Sic enim Joseph interpretatur venditionem. Vos quidem me vendidistis, sed Deus emit, asseruit et vindicavit me sibi pastorem, principem et salvatorem populorum eodem consilio, quo videbar amissus et perditus (Luther). “For,” he continues in explanation, “now there are two years of famine in the land, and there are five years more, in which there will be no ploughing and reaping. And God hath sent me before you to establish you a remnant (cf. 2Sa 14:7) upon the earth (i.e., to secure to you the preservation of the tribe and of posterity during this famine), and to preserve your lives to a great deliverance,” i.e., to a great nation delivered from destruction, cf. Gen 50:20. פּליטה that which has escaped, the band of men or multitude escaped from death and destruction (2Ki 19:30-31). Joseph announced prophetically here, that God had brought him into Egypt to preserve through him the family which He had chosen for His own nation, and to deliver them out of the danger of starvation which threatened them now, as a very great nation.