Genesis 42:31-38

42:31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies! 42:32 We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the sons of one father. ¹  One is no longer alive, ²  and the youngest is with our father at this time ³  in the land of Canaan.’

42:33 “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain ⁴  for your hungry households and go. 42:34 But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know ⁵  that you are honest men and not spies. ⁶  Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” 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. 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You are making me childless! Joseph is gone. ⁸  Simeon is gone. ⁹  And now you want to take ¹⁰  Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may ¹¹  put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care ¹²  and I will bring him back to you.” 42:38 But Jacob ¹³  replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. ¹⁴  If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair ¹⁵  in sorrow to the grave.” ¹⁶ 

[42:32]  ¹ tn Heb “twelve [were] we, brothers, sons of our father [are] we.”

[42:32]  ² tn Heb “the one is not.”

[42:32]  ³ tn Heb “today.”

[42:33]  ⁴ tn The word “grain” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:34]  ⁵ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav indicates purpose/result.

[42:34]  ⁶ tn Heb “that you are not spies, that you are honest men.”

[42:34]  ⁷ sn Joseph’s brothers soften the news considerably, making it sound like Simeon was a guest of Joseph (Leave one of your brothers with me) instead of being bound in prison. They do not mention the threat of death and do not at this time speak of the money in the one sack.

[42:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “is not.”

[42:36]  ¹⁰ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.

[42:37]  ¹¹ tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.

[42:37]  ¹² tn Heb “my hand.”

[42:38]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[42:38]  ¹⁴ sn The expression he alone is left meant that (so far as Jacob knew) Benjamin was the only surviving child of his mother Rachel.

[42:38]  ¹⁵ sn The expression bring down my gray hair is figurative, using a part for the whole – they would put Jacob in the grave. But the gray head signifies a long life of worry and trouble.

[42:38]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.