Genesis 42:17

42:17 He imprisoned ¹  them all for three days.

Genesis 40:4

40:4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be their attendant, and he served them. ² 

They spent some time in custody. ³ 

Genesis 40:3

40:3 so he imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard in the same facility where Joseph was confined.

Genesis 40:7

40:7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officials, who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?” ⁴ 

Genesis 41:10

41:10 Pharaoh was enraged with his servants, and he put me in prison in the house of the captain of the guards – me and the chief baker.

Genesis 42:19

42:19 If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison ⁵  while the rest of you go ⁶  and take grain back for your hungry families. ⁷ 

[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.

[40:4]  ² sn He served them. This is the same Hebrew verb, meaning “to serve as a personal attendant,” that was translated “became [his] servant” in 39:4.

[40:4]  ³ tn Heb “they were days in custody.”

[40:7]  ³ tn Heb “why are your faces sad today?”

[42:19]  ⁴ tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”

[42:19]  ⁵ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.

[42:19]  ⁶ tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”