Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.
Shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, х yisaa' (H5375) ... 'et (H854) ro'shªkaa (H7218) mee`aaleykaa (H5921)] - i:e., shall take away thy life. There is a paranomasia on the verb used here and in Genesis 40:13. [See an analogous instance in the opposite meanings of min (H4480), Genesis 27:28; Genesis 27:39.] The language of Joseph describes minutely one form of capital punishment that prevailed in Egypt-namely, that the criminal was decapitated, and then his headless body gibbeted on a tree by the highway, until it was gradually devoured by the ravenous birds (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).