Genesis 46:34
You shall answer: We thy servants are shepherds, from our infancy until now, both we and our fathers. And this you shall say, that you may dwell in the land of Gessen, because the Egyptians have all shepherds in abomination.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- respondebitis : Viri pastores sumus servi tui, ab infantia nostra usque in præsens, et nos et patres nostri. Hæc autem dicetis, ut habitare possitis in terra Gessen : quia detestantur Ægyptii omnes pastores ovium.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- ἐρεῖτε Ἄνδρες κτηνοτρόφοι ἐσμὲν οἱ παῖδές σου ἐκ παιδὸς ἕως τοῦ νῦν, καὶ ἡμεῖς καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν· ἵνα κατοικήσητε ἐν γῇ Γέσεμ Ἀραβίᾳ· βδέλυγμα γάρ ἐστιν Αἰγυπτίων πᾶς ποιμὴν προβάτων.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַאֲמַרְתֶּ֗ם אַנְשֵׁ֨י מִקְנֶ֜ה הָי֤וּ עֲבָדֶ֨יךָ֙ מִנְּעוּרֵ֣ינוּ וְעַד עַ֔תָּה גַּם אֲנַ֖חְנוּ גַּם אֲבֹתֵ֑ינוּ בַּעֲב֗וּר תֵּשְׁבוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ גֹּ֔שֶׁן כִּֽי תוֹעֲבַ֥ת מִצְרַ֖יִם כָּל רֹ֥עֵה צֹֽאן
Haydock's commentary
Abomination. See chap. xliii. 32. The source of this hatred against foreign shepherds, was probably because, about 100 years before Abraham, the shepherd-kings, Hycussos, had got possession of a great part of Egypt, and were at last expelled by the kings of Thebais. See Manetho ap. Eusebius, Præp. x. 13. Another reason why they hated foreigners was, because they slew and eat sheep, &c., which they themselves adored. The Egyptians kept sheep for this purpose, and for the benefits to be derived from their wool, &c., chap. xlvii. 17. (Calmet)
Joseph took advantage of this disposition of the inhabitants, to keep his brethren at a distance from them, that they might not be perverted. He does not introduce them at court, that no jealousy might be excited. He shews that he is not ashamed of his extraction. (Menochius)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.