Some translators prefer to place a heading before verse 6; for example, Bible en français courant has “Joseph treats his brothers brusquely,” Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch “The brothers do not recognize Joseph,” and Traduction oecuménique de la Bible “First encounter between Joseph and his brothers.”
Now Joseph was governor: Now, which represents the Hebrew connective, marks a transition of setting and also the introduction of the main participant in this episode. The Hebrew word rendered governor is related to a verb meaning to domineer or be master over. As used here it means one who has mastery and is therefore a ruler. The English word governor (Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation) carries the sense that this person administers under a higher authority, the king (Pharaoh). In some languages Joseph is referred to as “the second boss.”
Over the land: that is, “over Egypt.”
He it was … land: that is, “he was the one who sold [was selling] grain to the people.” Since grain was stored all over Egypt (see 41.48), Joseph obviously could not be selling grain personally to all the people. If we take land to mean the country of Egypt here (and this is the view of practically all translations), then we may have to say something like “who was in charge of selling grain to all the people [of Egypt].” New Jerusalem Bible uses the term “allocated,” and this is another possibility. But Good News Translation takes the Hebrew word ʾerets to refer to “the world” in this context, since 41.57 and 42.5 speak of people coming from other countries to buy grain in Egypt. If we follow Good News Translation the sense must be that “Joseph was the one [responsible for] selling grain to people from all over the world [other countries].” The narrative makes sense either way, since even if the local people could buy grain in their own towns, foreigners might be expected to have to deal with the person in charge of the whole operation.
The first part of this verse is restructured in some translations; for example, “They came to the second ruler of that country, because he was selling food to the people of other countries. That second ruler was Joseph, ….”
Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves … to the ground: see verse 3 for the rendering of brothers. For bowed … ground see 18.2. With this scene Joseph’s dreams in 37.5-11 have now become a reality.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .