Genesis 39:22

22 The chief jailer * ¹committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail *; so that whatever * was done there, he was responsible for it.

Genesis 39:22 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 39:22

And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all
the prisoners that [were] in the prisons
Who, as they were state prisoners, were a considerable charge; and this gave Joseph great honour, credit, and influence in the prison: and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer [of it];
not that he learned and exercised every trade the prisoners were of, to get a living by, which is the sense of some, as Aben Ezra relates; or that he in fact did everything that was done in the prison: but the meaning is, that he gave orders for the doing of everything, and there was nothing done without him; all that was done, as the Targum of Jonathan paraphrases it, he commanded it to be done; or, as Onkelos, all that was done was done by his word, that is, by his authority and command.

Genesis 39:22 In-Context

20 So Joseph's master took him and put him into the jail , the place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the jail .

21 But the LORD was with Joseph and extended kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the chief jailer .

22 The chief jailer committed to Joseph's charge all the prisoners who were in the jail ; so that whatever was done there, he was responsible for it.

23 The chief jailer did not supervise anything under Joseph's charge because the LORD was with him; and whatever he did, the LORD made to prosper.

Cross References

• 1. Genesis 39:4; Genesis 40:3, 4

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "hand"
• [b] Lit "the doer"