Kejadian 42:24--43:23
Konteks42:24 He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again, 1 he had Simeon taken 2 from them and tied up 3 before their eyes.
42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill 4 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. 5 42:26 So they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. 6
42:27 When one of them 7 opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, 8 he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 9 42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!” They were dismayed; 10 they turned trembling one to another 11 and said, “What in the world has God done to us?” 12
42:29 They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying, 42:30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us 13 as if we were 14 spying on the land. 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. 15 One is no longer alive, 16 and the youngest is with our father at this time 17 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 18 for your hungry households and go. 42:34 But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know 19 that you are honest men and not spies. 20 Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move about freely in the land.’” 21
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. 22 Simeon is gone. 23 And now you want to take 24 Benjamin! Everything is against me.”
42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may 25 put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care 26 and I will bring him back to you.” 42:38 But Jacob 27 replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. 28 If an accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will bring down my gray hair 29 in sorrow to the grave.” 30
43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 31 43:2 When they finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Return, buy us a little more food.”
43:3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned 32 us, ‘You will not see my face 33 unless your brother is with you.’ 43:4 If you send 34 our brother with us, we’ll go down and buy food for you. 43:5 But if you will not send him, we won’t go down there because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
43:6 Israel said, “Why did you bring this trouble 35 on me by telling 36 the man you had one more brother?”
43:7 They replied, “The man questioned us 37 thoroughly 38 about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ 39 So we answered him in this way. 40 How could we possibly know 41 that he would say, 42 ‘Bring your brother down’?”
43:8 Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will go immediately. 43 Then we will live 44 and not die – we and you and our little ones. 43:9 I myself pledge security 45 for him; you may hold me liable. If I do not bring him back to you and place him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 46 43:10 But if we had not delayed, we could have traveled there and back 47 twice by now!”
43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man – a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. 43:12 Take double the money with you; 48 you must take back 49 the money that was returned in the mouths of your sacks – perhaps it was an oversight. 43:13 Take your brother too, and go right away 50 to the man. 51 43:14 May the sovereign God 52 grant you mercy before the man so that he may release 53 your other brother 54 and Benjamin! As for me, if I lose my children I lose them.” 55
43:15 So the men took these gifts, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they hurried down to Egypt 56 and stood before Joseph. 43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant who was over his household, “Bring the men to the house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.” 43:17 The man did just as Joseph said; he 57 brought the men into Joseph’s house. 58
43:18 But the men were afraid when they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of 59 the money that was returned in our sacks last time. 60 He wants to capture us, 61 make us slaves, and take 62 our donkeys!” 43:19 So they approached the man who was in charge of Joseph’s household and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 43:20 They said, “My lord, we did indeed come down 63 the first time 64 to buy food. 43:21 But when we came to the place where we spent the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his money – the full amount 65 – in the mouth of his sack. So we have returned it. 66 43:22 We have brought additional money with us to buy food. We do not know who put the money in our sacks!”
43:23 “Everything is fine,” 67 the man in charge of Joseph’s household told them. “Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. 68 I had your money.” 69 Then he brought Simeon out to them.
[42:24] 1 tn Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”
[42:24] 2 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] 3 tn Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”
[42:25] 4 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] 5 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).
[42:26] 6 tn Heb “and they went from there.”
[42:27] 7 tn Heb “and the one.” The article indicates that the individual is vivid in the mind of the narrator, yet it is not important to identify him by name.
[42:27] 8 tn Heb “at the lodging place.”
[42:27] 9 tn Heb “and look, it [was] in the mouth of his sack.” By the use of the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, “look”), the narrator invites the reader to look through the eyes of the character and thereby draws attention to the money.
[42:28] 10 tn Heb “and their heart went out.” Since this expression is used only here, the exact meaning is unclear. The following statement suggests that it may refer to a sudden loss of emotional strength, so “They were dismayed” adequately conveys the meaning (cf. NRSV); NIV has “Their hearts sank.”
[42:28] 11 tn Heb “and they trembled, a man to his neighbor.”
[42:28] 12 tn Heb “What is this God has done to us?” The demonstrative pronoun (“this”) adds emphasis to the question.
[42:30] 14 tn The words “if we were” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[42:32] 15 tn Heb “twelve [were] we, brothers, sons of our father [are] we.”
[42:32] 16 tn Heb “the one is not.”
[42:33] 18 tn The word “grain” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[42:34] 19 tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav indicates purpose/result.
[42:34] 20 tn Heb “that you are not spies, that you are honest men.”
[42:34] 21 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] 24 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is desiderative here.
[42:37] 25 tn The nuance of the imperfect verbal form is permissive here.
[42:38] 27 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[42:38] 28 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] 29 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] 30 tn Heb “to Sheol,” the dwelling place of the dead.
[43:1] 31 tn The disjunctive clause gives supplemental information that is important to the storyline.
[43:3] 32 tn The infinitive absolute with the finite verb stresses the point. The primary meaning of the verb is “to witness; to testify.” It alludes to Joseph’s oath, which was tantamount to a threat or warning.
[43:3] 33 tn The idiom “see my face” means “have an audience with me.”
[43:4] 34 tn Heb “if there is you sending,” that is, “if you send.”
[43:6] 35 tn The verb may even have a moral connotation here, “Why did you do evil to me?”
[43:6] 36 tn The infinitive construct here explains how they brought trouble on Jacob.
[43:7] 37 tn The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[43:7] 38 tn The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
[43:7] 39 sn The report given here concerning Joseph’s interrogation does not exactly match the previous account where they supplied the information to clear themselves (see 42:13). This section may reflect how they remembered the impact of his interrogation, whether he asked the specific questions or not. That may be twisting the truth to protect themselves, not wanting to admit that they volunteered the information. (They admitted as much in 42:31, but now they seem to be qualifying that comment.) On the other hand, when speaking to Joseph later (see 44:19), Judah claims that Joseph asked for the information about their family, making it possible that 42:13 leaves out some of the details of their first encounter.
[43:7] 40 tn Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
[43:7] 41 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
[43:7] 42 tn Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).
[43:8] 43 tn Heb “and we will rise up and we will go.” The first verb is adverbial and gives the expression the sense of “we will go immediately.”
[43:8] 44 tn After the preceding cohortatives, the prefixed verbal form (either imperfect or cohortative) with the prefixed conjunction here indicates purpose or result.
[43:9] 45 tn The pronoun before the first person verbal form draws attention to the subject and emphasizes Judah’s willingness to be personally responsible for the boy.
[43:9] 46 sn I will bear the blame before you all my life. It is not clear how this would work out if Benjamin did not come back. But Judah is offering his life for Benjamin’s if Benjamin does not return.
[43:10] 47 tn Heb “we could have returned.”
[43:12] 48 tn Heb “in your hand.”
[43:12] 49 tn Heb “take back in your hand.” The imperfect verbal form probably has an injunctive or obligatory force here, since Jacob is instructing his sons.
[43:13] 50 tn Heb “arise, return,” meaning “get up and go back,” or “go back immediately.”
[43:13] 51 sn The man refers to the Egyptian official, whom the reader or hearer of the narrative knows is Joseph. In this context both the sons and Jacob refer to him simply as “the man” (see vv. 3-7).
[43:14] 52 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.
[43:14] 53 tn Heb “release to you.” After the jussive this perfect verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) probably indicates logical consequence, as well as temporal sequence.
[43:14] 54 sn Several Jewish commentators suggest that the expression your other brother refers to Joseph. This would mean that Jacob prophesied unwittingly. However, it is much more likely that Simeon is the referent of the phrase “your other brother” (see Gen 42:24).
[43:14] 55 tn Heb “if I am bereaved I am bereaved.” With this fatalistic sounding statement Jacob resolves himself to the possibility of losing both Benjamin and Simeon.
[43:15] 56 tn Heb “they arose and went down to Egypt.” The first verb has an adverbial function and emphasizes that they departed right away.
[43:17] 57 tn Heb “the man.” This has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun “he” for stylistic reasons.
[43:17] 58 sn This verse is a summary statement. The next verses delineate intermediate steps (see v. 24) in the process.
[43:18] 59 tn Heb “over the matter of.”
[43:18] 60 tn Heb “in the beginning,” that is, at the end of their first visit.
[43:18] 61 tn Heb “to roll himself upon us and to cause himself to fall upon us.” The infinitives here indicate the purpose (as viewed by the brothers) for their being brought to Joseph’s house.
[43:18] 62 tn The word “take” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[43:20] 63 tn The infinitive absolute is used for emphasis before the finite verbal form.
[43:20] 64 tn Heb “in the beginning” (see the note on the phrase “last time” in v. 18).
[43:21] 65 tn Heb “in its weight.”
[43:21] 66 tn Heb “brought it back in our hand.”
[43:23] 67 tn Heb “and he said, ‘peace to you.’” Here the statement has the force of “everything is fine,” or perhaps even “calm down.” The referent of “he” (the man in charge of Joseph’ household) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged for stylistic reasons.
[43:23] 68 sn Your God and the God of your father…This is the first clear reference in the story to the theme of divine providence – that God works through the human actions to do his will.
