Kejadian 42:15-16

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, ¹  you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 42:16 One of you must go and get ²  your brother, while ³  the rest of you remain in prison. ⁴  In this way your words may be tested to see if ⁵  you are telling the truth. ⁶  If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

Kejadian 42:19-20

42:19 If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison ⁷  while the rest of you go ⁸  and take grain back for your hungry families. ⁹  42:20 But you must bring ¹⁰  your youngest brother to me. Then ¹¹  your words will be verified ¹²  and you will not die.” They did as he said. ¹³ 

Kejadian 42:34

42:34 But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know ¹⁴  that you are honest men and not spies. ¹⁵  Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” ¹⁶ 

¹ tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

sn As surely as Pharaoh lives. Joseph uses an oath formula to let the brothers know the certainty of what he said. There is some discussion in the commentaries on swearing by the life of Pharaoh, but since the formulation here reflects the Hebrew practice, it would be hard to connect the ideas exactly to Egyptian practices. Joseph did this to make the point in a way that his Hebrew brothers would understand. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.

² tn Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.

³ tn The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.

⁴ tn Heb “bound.”

⁵ tn The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Heb “the truth [is] with you.”

⁷ tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”

⁸ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.

⁹ tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”

¹⁰ tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.

¹¹ tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.

¹² tn The Niphal form of the verb has the sense of “to be faithful; to be sure; to be reliable.” Joseph will test his brothers to see if their words are true.

¹³ tn Heb “and they did so.”

¹⁴ tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav indicates purpose/result.

¹⁵ tn Heb “that you are not spies, that you are honest men.”

¹⁶ 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.