Genesis 42:9-12

42:9 Then Joseph remembered ¹  the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see if our land is vulnerable!” ² 

42:10 But they exclaimed, ³  “No, my lord! Your servants have come to buy grain for food! 42:11 We are all the sons of one man; we are honest men! Your servants are not spies.”

42:12 “No,” he insisted, “but you have come to see if our land is vulnerable.” ⁴ 

Genesis 42:31

42:31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies!

Genesis 42:2

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us ⁵  so that we may live ⁶  and not die.” ⁷ 

Genesis 10:3

10:3 The sons of Gomer were ⁸  Askenaz, ⁹  Riphath, ¹⁰  and Togarmah. ¹¹ 

Genesis 10:1

The Table of Nations

10:1 This is the account ¹²  of Noah’s sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons ¹³  were born ¹⁴  to them after the flood.

Genesis 19:3

19:3 But he urged ¹⁵  them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate.

[42:9]  ¹ sn You are spies. Joseph wanted to see how his brothers would react if they were accused of spying.

[42:9]  ² tn Heb “to see the nakedness of the land you have come.”

[42:10]  ³ tn Heb “and they said to him.” In context this is best understood as an exclamation.

[42:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he said, ‘No, for the nakedness of the land you have come to see.’” The order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for clarity.

[42:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and buy for us from there.” The word “grain,” the direct object of “buy,” has been supplied for clarity, and the words “from there” have been omitted in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:2]  ⁶ tn Following the imperatives, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav expresses purpose of result.

[42:2]  ⁷ tn The imperfect tense continues the nuance of the verb before it.

[10:3]  ⁸ sn The descendants of Gomer were all northern tribes of the Upper Euphrates.

[10:3]  ⁹ sn Askenaz was the ancestor of a northern branch of Indo-Germanic tribes, possibly Scythians. For discussion see E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 63.

[10:3]  ¹⁰ sn The descendants of Riphath lived in a district north of the road from Haran to Carchemish.

[10:3]  ¹¹ sn Togarmah is also mentioned in Ezek 38:6, where it refers to Til-garimmu, the capital of Kammanu, which bordered Tabal in eastern Turkey. See E. M. Yamauchi, Foes from the Northern Frontier (SBA), 26, n. 28.

[10:1]  ¹² tn The title אֵלֶּה תּוֹלְדֹת (’elle tolÿdot, here translated as “This is the account”) here covers 10:1–11:9, which contains the so-called Table of Nations and the account of how the nations came to be dispersed.

[10:1]  ¹³ sn Sons were born to them. A vertical genealogy such as this encompasses more than the names of sons. The list includes cities, tribes, and even nations. In a loose way, the names in the list have some derivation or connection to the three ancestors.

[10:1]  ¹⁴ tn It appears that the Table of Nations is a composite of at least two ancient sources: Some sections begin with the phrase “the sons of” (בְּנֵי, bÿne) while other sections use “begot” (יָלָד, yalad). It may very well be that the “sons of” list was an old, “bare bones” list that was retained in the family records, while the “begot” sections were editorial inserts by the writer of Genesis, reflecting his special interests. See A. P. Ross, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Structure,” BSac 137 (1980): 340-53; idem, “The Table of Nations in Genesis 10 – Its Content,” BSac 138 (1981): 22-34.

[19:3]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew verb פָּצַר (patsar, “to press, to insist”) ironically foreshadows the hostile actions of the men of the city (see v. 9, where the verb also appears). The repetition of the word serves to contrast Lot to his world.