42:21 They said to one other, 1 “Surely we’re being punished 2 because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was 3 when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress 4 has come on us!”
42:27 When one of them 5 opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, 6 he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 7
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.
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.
5 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.
6 tn Heb “at the lodging place.”
7 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.
8 tn Heb “in your hand.”
9 tn Heb “take back in your hand.” The imperfect verbal form probably has an injunctive or obligatory force here, since Jacob is instructing his sons.
10 tn Heb “in its weight.”
11 tn Heb “brought it back in our hand.”