Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
- BSB And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you.
- NKJV But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
- NASB Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to save lives.
- NLT But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joseph urges them not to be grieved, for God sent him ahead to preserve life. He interprets their evil act within God's saving purpose.
Overview
Joseph comforts his brothers by lifting their eyes above their sin to God's overruling providence. Without excusing their guilt, he sees the divine hand that turned betrayal into the means of saving many. This profound view of God's sovereignty over human evil anticipates the cross, where the worst sin became the means of salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Gen 50:20But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.
- Acts 7:9–15And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,
- Job 1:21And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
- Gen 45:7–8And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
- Acts 2:23–24Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
- Ps 105:16–17Moreover he called for a famine upon the land: he brake the whole staff of bread.
- Luke 23:34Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.
- Isa 40:1–2Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
- Gen 47:25And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.
- 2 Cor 2:7So that contrariwise ye ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
- 2 Cor 2:11Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
- 2 Sam 12:12For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
- 2 Sam 16:10–12And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?
- 1 Sam 1:19And they rose up in the morning early, and worshipped before the LORD, and returned, and came to their house to Ramah: and Elkanah knew Hannah his wife; and the LORD remembered her.
- Acts 4:24–28And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is:
- 2 Sam 17:14And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel. For the LORD had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil upon Absalom.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 45:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.