Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Yitzhak Sapir <yitzhaksapir AT gmail.com>]

I will quote here from Redford, A study of the Biblical story of Joseph
(Genesis 37-50), p.233:

During the ensuing exchange with his brothers Joseph has the occasion
to utter the oath "as surely as Pharaoh lives!"  The term "Pharaoh"
(Egyptian pr-"-3, "Great House" was an expression used to designate
the king from the Eighteenth Dynasty into Roman times.  During the
New Kingdom, however, the official oath formula used by the courts
did not employ "Pharaoh", but rather "king" (nsw), "the ruler" (p3
hqS), or "lord" (nb), and usually ran as follows: "as surely as
Amun endures, and as the king endures."  The verb "to live" could
be found in place of "to endure."  "Pharaoh" replaces "king" or
"ruler" in the oath first during the ninth or eighth centuries, and
becomes common from the seventh on.

Yitzhak Sapir