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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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 8:28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.
- Ps 119:71It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
- Gen 45:5–8Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
- Gen 37:18–20They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him.
- Acts 2:23him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;
- Ps 105:16–17He called for a famine on the land. He destroyed the food supplies.
- Acts 3:13–15The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up, and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had determined to release him.
- Gen 37:4His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.
- Acts 3:26God, having raised up his servant Jesus, sent him to you first to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your wickedness.”
- Ps 56:5All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.
- Isa 10:7However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.
- Ps 76:10Surely the wrath of man praises you. The survivors of your wrath are restrained.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.