Genesis 42:17-19

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 42:17 sn 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, ʾasaf, “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, yosef) and keeps the comparison working.
2. Genesis 42:18 tn Heb “Do this.”
3. Genesis 42:18 tn After the preceding imperative, the imperative with vav (ו) can, as here, indicate logical sequence.
4. Genesis 42:18 sn 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.
5. Genesis 42:19 tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”
6. Genesis 42:19 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.
7. Genesis 42:19 tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”