So Joseph made it a statute: statute translates the noun form of a verb meaning to “engrave” or “inscribe.” In this context it refers to a decree or law. We may translate, for example, “Joseph made it a law for the country of Egypt” or “… made it a law that all Egyptians had to obey.”

Concerning the land of Egypt: in some languages the content of the law is expressed as a separate statement. One example of restructuring to do this is “So Joseph made that new law for everybody in the country. That law says: ‘When anybody makes food grow….’ ”

And it stands to this day: this expression this day refers to the time of the writer of our story, or the time of a later editor or copyist, which is later than the events described. Scholars cannot say with accuracy how long this may have been. In many languages this clause comes more naturally after the content of the law. See Good News Translation for the translation.

The land of the priests … Pharaoh’s: this repeats the statement in verse 22, that the land of the priests and temple property remained independent. See there for the translation.

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 .