He made slaves of them: Revised Standard Version‘s footnote shows this wording is taken from the src Samaritan Pentateuchsrc* and the Septuagint. The Hebrew text has “He removed them to the cities.” King James Version follows the Hebrew text, but nearly all modern versions are like Revised Standard Version, which is supported by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. It is highly unlikely that Joseph could or would move the entire population, less the priests, into the cities and then give the people seed to plant their fields. See verse 23. He is ambiguous in Revised Standard Version, but in this context it is most likely to refer to Joseph rather than to the king. This is made clear in New International Version, Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, and translators should also make sure the reference is to Joseph.

In translation it may be necessary to restructure he made slaves of them, either because of the difficulty in finding terms for “slave” and “slavery” or because the causative form “made slaves” is unnatural. One example of restructuring is “… and nobody was free in all that country. They were like prisoners, all the time being forced to work for that king….”

From one end … other is literally “from the end of the border of Egypt to its end.”

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 .