Genesis 41:8 - On the term “priestly magicians”

וַיְהִ֤י בַבֹּ֙קֶר֙ וַתִּפָּ֣עֶם רוּח֔וֹ וַיִּשְׁלַ֗ח וַיִּקְרָ֛א אֶת־כׇּל־חַרְטֻמֵּ֥י מִצְרַ֖יִם וְאֶת־כׇּל־חֲכָמֶ֑יהָ וַיְסַפֵּ֨ר פַּרְעֹ֤ה לָהֶם֙ אֶת־חֲלֹמ֔וֹ וְאֵין־פּוֹתֵ֥ר אוֹתָ֖ם לְפַרְעֹֽה׃

Next morning, his spirit was agitated, and he sent for all the priestly magicians of Egypt, and all its sages; and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but none could interpret them for Pharaoh.

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term in question, ḥartumim.)


This noun חַרְטֻמִּ֔ים is a Hebraized version of the Egyptian term for what Egyptologists call a lector priest—a type of priest who knows spells and incantations. This priesthood was male only.

It can be assumed that the ancient Israelite audience was familiar enough with Egyptian society to have a reasonably accurate picture of its priesthood.


As for the translation, the NJPS “magicians” is laconic. The contemporary audience cannot be presumed to be familiar enough with the various types of Egyptian priesthood to realize that not only is a religious office in view, but also a specifically male one.

To make the cultural background more explicit, I add the specification “priestly” upon the term’s first use in an episode. (So also in Exod 7:11.) It can be assumed that the audience thinks of “priest” as a male occupation in the biblical world.

(The combined term “priestly magicians” is more idiomatic than, and therefore preferable to, the rendering “magician-priests” in the 2006 CJPS translation, which was a pilot for RJPS.)