Kejadian 42:23

42:23 (Now ¹  they did not know that Joseph could understand them, ²  for he was speaking through an interpreter.) ³ 

Ulangan 28:49

28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth ⁴  as the eagle flies, ⁵  a nation whose language you will not understand,

Yesaya 28:11

28:11 For with mocking lips and a foreign tongue

he will speak to these people. ⁶ 

[42:23]  ¹ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

[42:23]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[28:49]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”

[28:49]  ⁵ tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.

[28:11]  ⁶ sn This verse alludes to the coming Assyrian invasion, when the people will hear a foreign language that sounds like gibberish to them. The Lord is the subject of the verb “will speak,” as v. 12 makes clear. He once spoke in meaningful terms, but in the coming judgment he will speak to them, as it were, through the mouth of foreign oppressors. The apparent gibberish they hear will be an outward reminder that God has decreed their defeat.