^45:5Now, do not be upset and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here,⁵ for God sent me⁶ ahead of you to preserve life! ^45:6For these past two years there has been famine in⁷ the land and for five more years there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ^45:7God sent me⁸ ahead of you to preserve you⁹ on the earth and to save your lives¹⁰ by a great deliverance.

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Footnotes

5 Heb “let there not be anger in your eyes.”
6 You sold me here, for God sent me. The tension remains as to how the brothers’ wickedness and God’s intentions work together. Clearly God is able to transform the actions of wickedness to bring about some gracious end. But this is saying more than that; it is saying that from the beginning it was God who sent Joseph here. Although harmonization of these ideas remains humanly impossible, the divine intention is what should be the focus. Only that will enable reconciliation.
7 Heb “the famine [has been] in the midst of.”
8 God sent me. The repetition of this theme that God sent Joseph is reminiscent of commission narratives in which the leader could announce that God sent him (e.g., Exod 3:15).
9 Heb “to make you a remnant.” The verb, followed here by the preposition לְ (lé), means “to make.”
10 The infinitive gives a second purpose for God’s action.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

And now don’t be grieved or angry with yourselves for selling me here, because God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. God sent me ahead of you to establish you as a remnant within the land and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.

NLTNew Living Translation

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. This famine that has ravaged the land for two years will last five more years, and there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

So now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for God sent me as deliverance before you. For these two years the famine has been in the midst of the land, but there will be five more years where there is no plowing or harvest. And God sent me before you all to preserve for you a remnant in the land and to keep alive among you many survivors.

KJV 1900King James Version

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

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