^43:7They replied, “The man questioned us⁷ thoroughly⁸ about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’⁹ So we answered him in this way.¹⁰ How could we possibly know¹¹ that he would say,¹² ‘Bring your brother down’?”

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Footnotes

7 The word “us” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 The infinitive absolute with the perfect verbal form emphasizes that Joseph questioned them thoroughly.
9 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.
10 Heb “and we told to him according to these words.”
11 The infinitive absolute emphasizes the imperfect verbal form, which here is a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of a past time).
12 Once again the imperfect verbal form is used as a historic future (that is, future from the perspective of past time).

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

NLTNew Living Translation

“The man kept asking us questions about our family,” they replied. “He asked, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And they said, “The man asked explicitly about us and about our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have a brother?’ And we answered him according to these words. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring down your brother’?”

KJV 1900King James Version

And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

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