Text -- Genesis 42:17-38 (NET)

42:17 He imprisoned them all for three days. 42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say and you will live, for I fear God. 42:19 If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison while the rest of you go and take grain back for your hungry families. 42:20 But you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then your words will be verified and you will not die.” They did as he said. 42:21 They said to one other, “Surely we’re being punished because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come on us!” 42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” 42:23 (Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.) 42:24 He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes. 42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. 42:26 So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. 42:27 When one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; they turned trembling one to another and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” 42:29 They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying, 42:30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were spying on the land. 42:31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies! 42:32 We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father at this time in the land of Canaan.’ 42:33 “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for your hungry households and go. 42:34 But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” 42:35 When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man’s bag of money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, they were afraid. 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you want to take Benjamin! Everything is against me.” 42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you.” 42:38 But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 42:17

¹ sn The same Hebrew word is used for Joseph’s imprisonment in 40:3, 4, 7. There is some mirroring going on in the narrative. The Hebrew word used here (אָסַף, ’asaf, “to gather”) is not normally used in a context like this (for placing someone in prison), but it forms a wordplay on the name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yosoef) and keeps the comparison working.

NET Notes: Gen 42:18

¹ tn Heb “Do this.”

² tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

³ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

NET Notes: Gen 42:19

¹ tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”

² tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.

³ tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:20

¹ tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.

² tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.

³ tn The Niphal form of the verb has the sense of “to be faithful; to be sure; to be reliable.” Joseph will test his brothers to see if their words are true.

⁴ tn Heb “and they did so.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:21

¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

NET Notes: Gen 42:22

¹ tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

NET Notes: Gen 42:23

¹ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

² tn “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.

³ tn Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.

NET Notes: Gen 42:24

¹ tn Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”

² tn Heb “took Simeon.” This was probably done at Joseph’s command, however; the grand vizier of Egypt would not have personally seized a prisoner.

³ tn Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:25

¹ tn Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120.f.

² tn Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

NET Notes: Gen 42:26

¹ tn Heb “and they went from there.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:27

¹ tn Heb “and the one.” The article indicates that the individual is vivid in the mind of the narrator, yet it is not important to identify him by name.

² tn Heb “at the lodging place.”

³ tn Heb “and look, it [was] in the mouth of his sack.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to look through the eyes of the character and thereby draws attention to the money.

NET Notes: Gen 42:28

¹ tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”

² tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”

³ tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.

NET Notes: Gen 42:30

¹ tn Heb “made us.”

² tn The words “if we were” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Gen 42:32

¹ tn Heb “twelve [were] we, brothers, sons of our father [are] we.”

² tn Heb “the one is not.”

³ tn Heb “today.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:33

¹ tn The word “grain” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

NET Notes: Gen 42:34

¹ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav indicates purpose/result.

² tn Heb “that you are not spies, that you are honest men.”

³ sn Joseph’s brothers soften the news considerably, making it sound like Simeon was a guest of Joseph (Leave one of your brothers with me) instead of being bound in prison. They do not mention the threat of death and do not at this time speak of the money in the one sack.

NET Notes: Gen 42:36

¹ tn Heb “is not.”

² tn Heb “is not.”

³ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.

NET Notes: Gen 42:37

¹ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.

² tn Heb “my hand.”

NET Notes: Gen 42:38

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

³ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

⁴ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.