But 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.
Parallel translations
- WEB As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive.
- BSB As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people.
- NKJV But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
- NASB As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.
- NLT You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.
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 declares that what they meant for evil, God meant for good, to save many lives.
Overview
This is the theological climax of the Joseph narrative: God's sovereign goodness overrules human evil to accomplish salvation. Without excusing his brothers' sin, Joseph sees God's hand working through it for the preservation of many. It powerfully foreshadows the cross, where the worst evil, the killing of Christ, became the means of saving God's people (Acts 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 8:28And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
- Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
- Gen 45:5–8Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
- Gen 37:18–20And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
- Acts 2:23Him, 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.
- Acts 3:13–15The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
- Gen 37:4And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
- Acts 3:26Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.
- Ps 56:5Every day they wrest my words: all their thoughts are against me for evil.
- Isa 10:7Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
- Ps 76:10Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 50:20 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.