Kejadian 42:15-25

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!” 42:17 He imprisoned ⁷  them all for three days. 42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say ⁸  and you will live, ⁹  for I fear God. ¹⁰  42:19 If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison ¹¹  while the rest of you go ¹²  and take grain back for your hungry families. ¹³  42:20 But you must bring ¹⁴  your youngest brother to me. Then ¹⁵  your words will be verified ¹⁶  and you will not die.” They did as he said. ¹⁷ 

42:21 They said to one other, ¹⁸  “Surely we’re being punished ¹⁹  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ²⁰  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ²¹  has come on us!” 42:22 Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I say to you, ‘Don’t sin against the boy,’ but you wouldn’t listen? So now we must pay for shedding his blood!” ²²  42:23 (Now ²³  they did not know that Joseph could understand them, ²⁴  for he was speaking through an interpreter.) ²⁵  42:24 He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, ²⁶  he had Simeon taken ²⁷  from them and tied up ²⁸  before their eyes.

42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill ²⁹  their bags with grain, to return each man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. His orders were carried out. ³⁰ 

[42:15]  ¹ tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

[42:15]  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.

[42:16]  ² tn Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.

[42:16]  ³ tn The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.

[42:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “bound.”

[42:16]  ⁵ tn The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[42:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “the truth [is] with you.”

[42:17]  ⁷ 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.

[42:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “Do this.”

[42:18]  ⁹ tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.

[42:18]  ¹⁰ sn For I fear God. Joseph brings God into the picture to awaken his brothers’ consciences. The godly person cares about the welfare of people, whether they live or die. So he will send grain back, but keep one of them in Egypt. This action contrasts with their crime of selling their brother into slavery.

[42:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”

[42:19]  ¹² tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.

[42:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”

[42:20]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.

[42:20]  ¹⁵ tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.

[42:20]  ¹⁶ 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.

[42:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and they did so.”

[42:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

[42:21]  ¹⁹ tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

[42:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

[42:21]  ²¹ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.

[42:22]  ²² tn Heb “and also his blood, look, it is required.” God requires compensation, as it were, from those who shed innocent blood (see Gen 9:6). In other words, God exacts punishment for the crime of murder.

[42:23]  ²³ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

[42:23]  ²⁴ tn “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.

[42:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.

[42:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”

[42:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “took Simeon.” This was probably done at Joseph’s command, however; the grand vizier of Egypt would not have personally seized a prisoner.

[42:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”

[42:25]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and they filled.” The clause appears to be elliptical; one expects “Joseph gave orders to fill…and they filled.” See GKC 386 §120.f.

[42:25]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and he did for them so.” Joseph would appear to be the subject of the singular verb. If the text is retained, the statement seems to be a summary of the preceding, more detailed statement. However, some read the verb as plural, “and they did for them so.” In this case the statement indicates that Joseph’s subordinates carried out his orders. Another alternative is to read the singular verb as passive (with unspecified subject), “and this was done for them so” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).