^42:14But Joseph told them, “It is just as I said to you:²⁵ You are spies! ^42:15You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives,²⁶ you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ^42:16One of you must go and get²⁷ your brother, while²⁸ the rest of you remain in prison.²⁹ In this way your words may be tested to see if³⁰ you are telling the truth.³¹ If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” ^42:17He imprisoned³² them all for three days. ^42:18On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do as I say³³ and you will live,³⁴ for I fear God.³⁵^42:19If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison³⁶ while the rest of you go³⁷ and take grain back for your hungry families.³⁸^42:20But you must bring³⁹ your youngest brother to me. Then⁴⁰ your words will be verified⁴¹ and you will not die.” They did as he said.⁴²

^42:21They said to one other,⁴³ “Surely we’re being punished⁴⁴ because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was⁴⁵ when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress⁴⁶ has come on us!” ^42:22Reuben 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!”⁴⁷^42:23(Now⁴⁸ they did not know that Joseph could understand them,⁴⁹ for he was speaking through an interpreter.)⁵⁰^42:24He turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them again,⁵¹ he had Simeon taken⁵² from them and tied up⁵³ before their eyes.

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Footnotes

25 Heb “to you, saying.”
26 Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.” 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,” 81 (1969): 74–92.
27 Heb “send from you one and let him take.” After the imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose.
28 The disjunctive clause is here circumstantial-temporal.
29 Heb “bound.”
30 The words “to see” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
31 Heb “the truth [is] with you.”
32 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.
33 Heb “Do this.”
34 After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.
35 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.
36 Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”
37 The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.
38 Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”
39 The imperfect here has an injunctive force.
40 After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.
41 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 Heb “and they did so.”
43 Heb “a man to his neighbor.”
44 Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”
45 Heb “the distress of his soul.”
46 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.
47 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.
48 The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.
49 “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.
50 Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2–3),” 40 (1923/24): 135–37.
51 Heb “and he turned to them and spoke to them.”
52 Heb “took Simeon.” This was probably done at Joseph’s command, however; the grand vizier of Egypt would not have personally seized a prisoner.
53 Heb “and he bound him.” See the note on the preceding verb “taken.”