The content of verse 20 is expressed in expanded form in 45.5, 7, and 8.

As for you, you meant evil against me: here you (plural) is made emphatic and is placed in contrast with what God intended to do. We may translate, for example, “You [plural] wanted to do evil to me” or “You [plural] wanted to carry out evil plans against me.”

But God meant it for good: that is, “God took what you did wrong and made the end of it good.” Some other renderings of the first part of the verse are “You made a plan to harm me, but God overturned your plan and made the fruit of it good” and “You wanted to hurt me, but God turned your plan round and used it in a good way.”

To bring it about … alive: see 45.5, 7.

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 .