Now Israel loved Joseph …: Revised Standard Version translates the common Hebrew connective as a transitional Now. Verses 3 and 4 are actually an interruption or diversion from the main story line; so Now introduces a parenthetical note, to give additional information about the family which is important for the story that follows from verse 5 on. Note that Good News Translation begins a new paragraph here. Although the Hebrew has Israel, which refers to Jacob, it my be clearer for the reader to use “Jacob,” as Israel is mainly used to refer to the nation descended from Jacob. See 35.10, 21 for comments on translating Jacob as Israel.
More than any other of his children: in some languages the comparative degree loved … more than is expressed “Israel loved his children; he surpassed in his love for Joseph.” In others a kind of positive-negative expression is used; for example, “Jacob loved Joseph; he didn’t love his other children much.” In others again the normal expression is “Jacob loved Joseph a lot, and loved his other children only a little.”
Son of his old age gives the reason why Jacob loved Joseph more. This expression may need to be expressed as “because he had been born when Jacob was already old.” See Good News Translation. Joseph’s special position in his father’s affections was obvious to his brothers and a reason for their hating him.
Another reason for hating Joseph was that he [Jacob] made him a long robe with sleeves. The traditional rendering is “coat of many colors,” which follows the Septuagint and theVulgate. Although the details are not certain, some understand it to have been a garment worn next to the skin, and that covered the arms to the wrists and the legs to the ankles (Koehler-Baumgartner). In 2 Sam 13.18 it is the garment worn by a princess. By contrast the ordinary garment for males reached only to the knees and did not cover the arms. Anchor Bible finds support in cuneiform inventories that suggest it was “an ornamented tunic,” that is, a tunic or robe that was decorated by sewing ornaments to the cloth. Von Rad describes it as “a luxury which only those who did not have to work could think of having.” In summary the garment may refer to a robe, coat, or long shirt-like piece of clothing. It was clearly a very special garment that gave Joseph a status not shared by his brothers. Some typical translations are “a very pretty coat with long arms” and “a special long jacket with full sleeves.”
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 .