the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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Genesis 42:15
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Hereby you shall be tested. By the life of Par`oh you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother come here.
Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here.
But I will give you a way to prove you are telling the truth. As surely as the king lives, you will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here.
You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
"In this way you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
Hereby ye shall be proued: by the life of Pharaoh, ye shal not goe hence, except your yongest brother come hither.
by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
and I'm going to find out who you really are. I swear by the life of the king that you won't leave this place until your youngest brother comes here.
Here's how you can prove you're not lying: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here.
By this ye shall be put to the proof: as Pharaoh lives, ye shall not go forth hence, unless your youngest brother come hither!
By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
By this you shall be proved; by the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from this place, except your younger brother comes here.
This is how you will be tested: I swear by the name of the king that you will never leave unless your youngest brother comes here.
This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
By this you shall be tested. As Pharaoh lives you shall not go out from here except your younger brother comes in here.
Here by wyll I proue you: By the life of Pharao ye shall not get hence, excepte youre yongest brother come hither.
hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.
Hereby ye shalbe proued: [by] the lyfe of Pharao, ye shall not go hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Hereby ye shall be proved, as Pharaoh liveth, ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
Hereby ye shall be proued: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not goe foorth hence, except your yongest brother come hither.
herein shall ye be manifested; by the health of Pharao, ye shall not depart hence, unless your younger brother come hither.
hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
ye ben aspieris, riyt now Y schal take experience of you, bi the helthe of Farao ye schulen not go fro hennus, til youre leeste brother come; sende ye oon of you,
by this ye are proved: Pharaoh liveth! if ye go out from this -- except by your young brother coming hither;
hereby you shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here, except your youngest brother come here.
By this ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother shall come hither.
Hereby you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother come here.
In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here!
You will be put to a test. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
Here is how you shall be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
Hereby, shall ye be proved, - By the life of Pharaoh, ye shall not go forth from hence, save only by the coming in of your youngest brother hither.
I shall now presently try what you are: by the health of Pharao, you shall not depart hence, until your youngest brother come.
By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
By the life: Genesis 42:7, Genesis 42:12, Genesis 42:16, Genesis 42:30, Deuteronomy 6:13, 1 Samuel 1:26, 1 Samuel 17:55, 1 Samuel 20:3, Jeremiah 5:2, Jeremiah 5:7, Matthew 5:33-37, Matthew 23:16-22, James 5:12
except: Genesis 42:20, Genesis 42:34, Genesis 43:3, Genesis 44:20-34
Reciprocal: Genesis 42:33 - General Genesis 44:21 - Bring Genesis 44:23 - General
Cross-References
Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like he didn't know them. He was rude when he spoke to them. He said, "Where do you come from?" The brothers answered, "We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food."
Then Joseph said to them, "No, you have come to spy on us!"
One of you must go back to get your youngest brother while the rest of you stay here in prison. Then we can prove whether you are telling the truth or not. If you are not telling the truth, then by Pharaoh, I swear that you are spies!"
But then you must bring your youngest brother back here to me. Then I will know that you are telling the truth, and you will not have to die." The brothers agreed to this.
Then Reuben said to them, "I told you not to do anything bad to that boy, but you refused to listen to me. Now we are being punished for his death."
They said, "The governor of that country spoke rudely to us. He thought that we were spies!
"Then the governor of that country said to us, ‘Here is a way to prove that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me. Take your grain back to your families.
Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know if you are honest men or if you were sent from an army to destroy us. If you are telling the truth, I will give your brother back to you. I will give him to you, and you will be free to buy grain in our country.'"
But Reuben said to his father, "Father, you may kill my two sons if I don't bring Benjamin back to you. Trust me. I will bring him back to you."
But Judah said to Jacob, "But the governor of that country warned us. He said, ‘If you don't bring your brother back to me, I will refuse to talk to you.'
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Hereby ye shall be proved,.... Whether spies, or not, namely, by producing their youngest brother, said to be at home with his father:
by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither: the phrase, "by the life of Pharaoh", seems to be the form of an oath, as it was common with many nations, especially with the Scythians, who used to swear by the royal throne a, and the Romans, in later times, by the life, health, and genius of their emperor; and this custom of swearing by the life of their king, or by his head, continued with the Egyptians, as Aben Ezra says, unto his times; though some take this to be a wish or prayer for the life of Pharaoh, and render it, "may Pharaoh live" b, or, at most, but a strong asseveration, that as dear as the life of Pharaoh was to him, so surely they should not stir from the place where they were, unless their youngest brother Benjamin was brought thither.
a Herodot. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 68. b חי פרעה "vivat Parhoh", Montanus, Junius Tremellius so Ainsworth and Lightfoot.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Joseph and Ten of His Brethren
1. שׁבר sheber, “fragment, crumb, hence, grain.” בר bar “pure,” “winnowed,” hence, “corn” (grain).
6. שׁליט shallı̂yṭ, “ruler, governor, hence,” Sultan. Not elsewhere found in the Pentateuch.
25. כלי kelı̂y, “vessel,” here any portable article in which grain may be conveyed. שׂק śaq, “sack,” the very word which remains in our language to this day. אמתחת 'amtachath “bag.”
Twenty years, the period of Joseph’s 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. “Behold, I have heard there is grain in Mizraim:” 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 father’s old age, the only son of Rachel now with him, and the only full brother of the lost Joseph. “Lest mischief befall him,” and so no child of Rachel would be left. “Among those that went.” 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. “The governor” - the sultan. This, we see, is a title of great antiquity in Egypt or Arabia. Joseph presided over the cornmarket of the kingdom. “Bowed down to him with their faces to the earth.” Well might Joseph think of those never-to-be-forgotten dreams in which the sheaves and stars bowed down to him. “And knew them.” 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. “And he made himself strange unto them.” All that we know of Joseph’s 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.
“They knew not him.” 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? “Spies are ye.” 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. “Sons of one man are we.” It was not likely that ten sons of one man would be sent on the hazardous duty of spies. “And behold the youngest is with our father this day.” It is intensely interesting to Joseph to hear that his father and full brother are still living. “And one is not.” 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. “By the life of Pharaoh.” Joseph speaks in character, and uses an Egyptian asseveration. “Send one of you.” 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. “This do and live.” 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. “The God do I fear.” 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.
“Carry grain for your houses.” 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 Abraham’s three hundred and eighteen trained servants, they happen to be of essential moment in the process of events. “Your youngest brother.” Joseph longs to see his full brother alive, whom he left at home a child of four summers. “Verily guilty are we concerning our brother.”
Their affliction is beginning to bear the fruit of repentance. “Because we saw the distress of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear.” How vividly is the scene of Joseph’s sale here brought before us. It now appears that he besought them to spare him, and they would not hear! “This distress.” Retribution has come at last. “His blood is required.” Reuben justly upbraids them with their hardness of heart. Their brother’s blood is required; for murder was intended, and when he was sold his death was pretended. “The interpreter was betwixt them.” 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. “In the inn;” 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 Benjamin’s departure on this hazardous journey. “And ye shall bring down.” 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.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 42:15. By the life of Pharaoh — חי פרעה chey Pharaoh, Pharaoh liveth. As if he had said, As surely as the king of Egypt lives, so surely shall ye not go hence unless your brother come hither. Here therefore is no oath; it is just what they themselves make it in their report to their father, Genesis 43:3: the man did solemnly protest unto us; and our translators should not have put it in the form of an oath, especially as the original not only will bear another version, but is absolutely repugnant to this in our sense of the word.
