Genesis 42:15-16

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives,¹ you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 42:16 One of you must go and get² your brother, while³ the rest of you remain in prison.⁴ In this way your words may be tested to see if⁵ you are telling the truth.⁶ If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

Genesis 42:20

42:20 But you must bring⁷ your youngest brother to me. Then⁸ your words will be verified⁹ and you will not die.” They did as he said.¹⁰

Genesis 43:32

43:32 They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers,¹¹ and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting¹² to do so.)¹³

Deuteronomy 8:2

8:2 Remember the whole way by which he¹⁴ has brought you these forty years through the desert¹⁵ so that he might, by humbling you, test you to see if you have it within you to keep his commandments or not.

Deuteronomy 8:16

8:16 fed you in the desert with manna (which your ancestors had never before known) so that he might by humbling you test you¹⁶ and eventually bring good to you.

Deuteronomy 13:3

13:3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer,¹⁷ for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him¹⁸ with all your mind and being.¹⁹

Matthew 10:16

Persecution of Disciples

10:16 “I²⁰ am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves,²¹ so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:2

10:2 Now these are the names of the twelve apostles:²² first, Simon²³ (called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee and John his brother;

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

¹tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

²tn Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.

³tn The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.

⁴tn Heb “bound.”

⁵tn The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶tn Heb “the truth [is] with you.”

⁷tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.

⁸tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.

⁹tn 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.

¹⁰tn Heb “and they did so.”

¹¹tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹²tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (to’evah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.

¹³tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.

¹⁴tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹⁵tn Or “wilderness” (so KJV, NRSV, NLT); likewise in v. 15.

¹⁶tn Heb “in order to humble you and in order to test you.” See 8:2.

¹⁷tn Heb “or dreamer of dreams.” See note on this expression in v. 1.

¹⁸tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹⁹tn Heb “all your heart and soul” (so NRSV, CEV, NLT); or “heart and being” (NCV “your whole being”). See note on the word “being” in Deut 6:5.

²⁰tn Grk “Behold I.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).

²¹sn This imagery of wolves is found in intertestamental Judaism; see Pss. Sol. 8:23, 30.

²²sn The term apostles is rare in the gospels, found only here, Mark 3:14, and six more times in Luke (6:13; 9:10; 11:49; 17:5; 22:14; 24:10).

²³sn In the various lists of the twelve, Simon (that is, Peter) is always mentioned first (see also Mark 3:16-19; Luke 6:13-16; Acts 1:13) and the first four are always the same, though not in the same order after Peter.