Genesis 29:10

29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of his uncle Laban, ¹  and the sheep of his uncle Laban, he ²  went over ³  and rolled the stone off the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of his uncle Laban. ⁴ 

Genesis 43:7

43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us ⁵  thoroughly ⁶  about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ ⁷  So we answered him in this way. ⁸  How could we possibly know ⁹  that he would say, ¹⁰  ‘Bring your brother down’?”

[29:10]  ¹ tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother” (twice in this verse).

[29:10]  ² tn Heb “Jacob.” The proper name has been replaced by the pronoun (“he”) in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[29:10]  ³ tn Heb “drew near, approached.”

[29:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “Laban, the brother of his mother.” The text says nothing initially about the beauty of Rachel. But the reader is struck by the repetition of “Laban the brother of his mother.” G. J. Wenham is no doubt correct when he observes that Jacob’s primary motive at this stage is to ingratiate himself with Laban (Genesis [WBC], 2:231).

[43:7]  ⁵ tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[43:7]  ⁶ tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.

[43:7]  ⁷ sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.

[43:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”

[43:7]  ⁹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).

[43:7]  ¹⁰ tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).