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Complete Jewish Bible
Genesis 42:4
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But Ya`akov didn't send Binyamin, Yosef's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm befall him."
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, for he feared harm would come to him.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, because he was afraid that something terrible might happen to him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "What if some accident happens to him?"
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's [younger] brother, with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that some harm or injury may come to him."
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that harm may happen to him."
But Beniamin Iosephs brother woulde not Iaakob send with his brethren: for he saide, Least death should befall him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "Lest any harm befall him."
But Jacob did not send Joseph's younger brother Benjamin with them; he was afraid that something might happen to him.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest mischief may befall him.
Jacob did not send Benjamin. (Benjamin was Joseph's only full brother.) Jacob was afraid that something bad might happen to Benjamin.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him.
But Benjamin, Josephs brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers; for he said, Lest some misfortune might befall him.
but Jacob did not send Joseph's full brother Benjamin with them, because he was afraid that something might happen to him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he thought, “Something might happen to him.”
And Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he said, Lest harm meet with him.
As for Ben Iamyn Iosephs brother, Iacob wolde not let him go wt his brethre, for he sayde: Some mysfortune might happen vnto him.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure harm befall him.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.
But Beniamin Iosephes brother, woulde not Iacob sende with his other brethren: for he saide, lest peraduenture destruction come vpon hym.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said: 'Lest peradventure harm befall him.'
But Beniamin Iosephs brother, Iacob sent not with his brethren: for he said, Lest peraduenture mischiefe befall him.
But Jacob sent not Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, with his brethren; for he said, Lest, haply, disease befall him.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that harm might befall him."
and Beniamyn was withholdun of Jacob at hoome, that seide to hise britheren, Lest perauenture in the weie he suffre ony yuel.
and Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob hath not sent with his brethren, for he said, `Lest mischief meet him.'
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob didn't send with his brothers; for he said, If I do perhaps harm will befall him.
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren: for he said, Lest perhaps mischief shall befall him.
But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm befall him."
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "Lest some calamity befall him."
But Jacob wouldn't let Joseph's younger brother, Benjamin, go with them, for fear some harm might come to him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers. For he said, "I am afraid that something will happen to him."
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he feared that harm might come to him.
but, Benjamin, Joseph's own brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren, - for he said, Lest there befall him any mischief.
Whilst Benjamin was kept at home by Jacob, who said to his brethren: Lest perhaps he take any harm in the journey.
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him.
But Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, "I am afraid that harm may befall him."
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Benjamin: Genesis 35:16-19
Lest: Genesis 42:38, Genesis 3:22, Genesis 11:4, Genesis 33:1, Genesis 33:2, Genesis 43:14, Genesis 43:29, Genesis 44:20-22, Genesis 44:27-34
Reciprocal: Genesis 35:18 - Benjamin
Cross-References
(A: v, S: iv) Adonai , God, said, "See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, to prevent his putting out his hand and taking also from the tree of life, eating, and living forever — "
Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city with a tower that has its top reaching up into heaven, so that we can make a name for ourselves and not be scattered all over the earth."
Now Ya‘akov saw that there was grain in Egypt; so Ya‘akov said to his sons, "Why are you staring at each other?
Look," he said, "I've heard that there's grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we can stay alive and not die!"
Send one of you, and let him bring your brother. Meanwhile, you will be kept in custody. This will prove whether there is any truth in what you say. Otherwise, as Pharaoh lives, you are certainly spies."
(v) If you are upright men, let one of your brothers remain incarcerated in the prison you're being kept in, while you go and carry grain back to relieve the famine in your homes.
But bring your youngest brother to me. In this way your statements will be verified, and you won't die." So they did it.
Re'uven answered them, "Didn't I tell you, ‘Don't wrong the boy'? But you wouldn't hear of it. Now comes the reckoning for his blood!"
But at camp that night, as one of them opened his pack to give fodder to his donkey, he noticed his money — there it was, just inside his pack.
but bring your youngest brother to me. By this I will know that you aren't spies, but are upright men; then I will return your brother to you; and you will do business in the land.'"
Gill's Notes on the Bible
But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren,.... Benjamin is called Joseph's brother, because he was so both by father and mother's side, as the rest were not; him Jacob kept with him, being the youngest and his darling, the only son he had with him of his beloved wife Rachel; and was very probably the more beloved by him since he had been bereft of Joseph; and it was not only to keep him company that he retained him at home, but for the reason following:
for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him; as had to Joseph his brother, as he imagined; either that the journey would be too much for him, being young, or lest he should be seized with sickness on the road, or rather with death, as Aben Ezra interprets it according to the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Joseph and Ten of His Brethren
1. ש××ר sheber, âfragment, crumb, hence, grain.â ×ר bar âpure,â âwinnowed,â hence, âcornâ (grain).
6. ש×××× shallıÌytÌ£, âruler, governor, hence,â Sultan. Not elsewhere found in the Pentateuch.
25. ××× kelıÌy, âvessel,â here any portable article in which grain may be conveyed. ש×ק sÌaq, âsack,â the very word which remains in our language to this day. ××ת×ת 'amtachath âbag.â
Twenty years, the period of Josephâs long and anxious waiting, have come to an end. The dreams of his boyhood are now at length to be fulfilled. The famine has reached the chosen family, and they look at one another perplexed and irresolute, not knowing what to do.
Genesis 42:1-5
The aged Jacob is the only man of counsel. âBehold, I have heard there is grain in Mizraim:â go down and buy. The ten brothers are sent, and Benjamin, the youngest, is retained, not merely because of his youth, for he was now twenty-four years of age, but because he was the son of his fatherâs old age, the only son of Rachel now with him, and the only full brother of the lost Joseph. âLest mischief befall him,â and so no child of Rachel would be left. âAmong those that went.â The dearth was widespread in the land of Kenaan.
Genesis 42:6-17
The ten brothers meet with a rough reception from the lord of the land. âThe governorâ - the sultan. This, we see, is a title of great antiquity in Egypt or Arabia. Joseph presided over the cornmarket of the kingdom. âBowed down to him with their faces to the earth.â Well might Joseph think of those never-to-be-forgotten dreams in which the sheaves and stars bowed down to him. âAnd knew them.â How could he fail to remember the ten full-grown men of his early days, when they came before him with all their peculiarities of feature, attitude, and mother tongue. âAnd he made himself strange unto them.â All that we know of Josephâs character heretofore, and throughout this whole affair, goes to prove that his object in all his seemingly harsh treatment was to get at their hearts, to test their affection toward Benjamin, and to bring them to repent of their unkindness to himself.
âThey knew not him.â Twenty years make a great change in a youth of seventeen. And besides, with his beard and head shaven, his Egyptian attire, his foreign tongue, and his exalted position, who could have recognized the stripling whom, twenty years ago, they had sold as a slave? âSpies are ye.â This was to put a color of justice on their detention. To see the nakedness of the land, not its unfortified frontier, which is a more recent idea, but its present impoverishment from the famine. âSons of one man are we.â It was not likely that ten sons of one man would be sent on the hazardous duty of spies. âAnd behold the youngest is with our father this day.â It is intensely interesting to Joseph to hear that his father and full brother are still living. âAnd one is not.â Time has assuaged all their bitter feelings, both of exasperation against Joseph and of remorse for their unbrotherly conduct. This little sentence, however, cannot be uttered by them, or heard by Joseph, without emotion. âBy the life of Pharaoh.â Joseph speaks in character, and uses an Egyptian asseveration. âSend one of you.â This proposal is enough to strike terror into their hearts. The return of one would be a heavy, perhaps a fatal blow to their father. And how can one brave the perils of the way? They cannot bring themselves to concur in this plan. Sooner will they all go to prison, as accordingly they do. Joseph is not without a strong conviction of incumbent duty in all this. He knows he has been put in the position of lord over his brethren in the foreordination of God, and he feels bound to make this authority a reality for their moral good.
Genesis 42:18-25
After three days, Joseph reverses the numbers, allowing nine to return home, and retaining one. âThis do and live.â Joseph, notwithstanding the arbitrary power which his office enabled him to exercise, proves himself to be free from caprice and unnecessary severity. He affords them a fair opportunity of proving their words true, before putting them to death on suspicion of espionage. âThe God do I fear.â A singular sentence from the lord paramount of Egypt! It implies that the true God was not yet unknown in Egypt. We have heard the confession of this great truth already from the lips of Pharaoh Genesis 41:38-39. But it intimates to the brothers the astonishing and hopeful fact that the grand vizier serves the same great Being whom they and their fathers have known and worshipped; and gives them a plain hint that they will be dealt with according to the just law of heaven.
âCarry grain for your houses.â The governor then is touched with some feeling for their famishing households. The brothers, though honoring their aged father as the patriarch of their race, had now their separate establishments. Twelve households had to be supplied with bread. The journey to Egypt was not to be undertaken more than once a year if possible, as the distance from Hebron was upwards of two hundred miles. Hence, the ten brothers had with them all their available beasts of burden, with the needful retinue of servants. We need not be surprised that these are not especially enumerated, as it is the manner of Scripture to leave the secondary matters to the intelligence and experience of the reader, unless, as in the case of Abrahamâs three hundred and eighteen trained servants, they happen to be of essential moment in the process of events. âYour youngest brother.â Joseph longs to see his full brother alive, whom he left at home a child of four summers. âVerily guilty are we concerning our brother.â
Their affliction is beginning to bear the fruit of repentance. âBecause we saw the distress of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear.â How vividly is the scene of Josephâs sale here brought before us. It now appears that he besought them to spare him, and they would not hear! âThis distress.â Retribution has come at last. âHis blood is required.â Reuben justly upbraids them with their hardness of heart. Their brotherâs blood is required; for murder was intended, and when he was sold his death was pretended. âThe interpreter was betwixt them.â The dragoman was employed in holding conversation with them. But Joseph heard the spontaneous expressions of remorse, coming unprompted from their lips. The fountain of affection is deeply stirred. He cannot repress the rising tear. He has to retire for a time to recover his composure. He now takes, not Reuben, who was not to blame, but Simon, the next oldest, and binds him before them: a speaking act. He then gives orders to supply them with corn (grain), deposit their money in their sacks without their knowledge, and furnish them with provision for the way. Joseph feels, perhaps, that he cannot take money from his father. He will pay for the corn out of his own funds. But he cannot openly return the money to his brothers without more explanation than he wishes at present to give.
Genesis 42:26-34
The nine brothers return home and record their wonderful adventure. âIn the inn;â the lodge or place where they stopped for the night. This place was not yet perhaps provided with even the shelter of a roof. It was merely the usual place of halting. They would probably occupy six or seven days on the journey. Apparently at the first stage one opened his sack to give provender to his ass. The discovery of the silver in its mouth strikes them with terror. In a strange land and with an uneasy conscience they are easily alarmed. It was not convenient or necessary to open all the bags on the way, and so they make no further discovery.
Genesis 42:35-38
Upon emptying the other sacks all the silver turns up, to their great amazement and consternation. Jacob laments the loss of his son. Reuben offers two of his sons to Jacob as pledges for Benjamin, to be slain if he did not bring him back in safety. The sorrowing parent cannot yet bring himself to consent to Benjaminâs departure on this hazardous journey. âAnd ye shall bring down.â Jacob either speaks here in the querulous tone of afflicted old age, or he had come to know or suspect that his brothers had some hand in the disappearance of Joseph.
