forget (41:51), and with them, amid the crowds of hungry petitioners, must come the inevitable return of fierce memories of betrayal. He does not let on that he recognizes them but treats them like strangers, speaks harshly to them, and pretends to know nothing about them. “Where do you come from?” he asks (Gen 42:7). [Wordplay] The question resonates with his repressed story, for they come from his land, his people, and his God, from the sphere of life that his new Egyptian identity has obscured.