Genesis 44:19

Easy-to-Read Version

When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

King James Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

Lexham English Bible
My lord had asked his servants, saying, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

New Century Version
When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

New English Translation
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

Amplified Bible
"My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?'

New American Standard Bible
"My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?'

Geneva Bible (1587)
My Lord asked his seruants, saying, Haue ye a father, or a brother?

Legacy Standard Bible
My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?'

Contemporary English Version
You asked us if our father was still alive and if we had any more brothers.

Complete Jewish Bible
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father? or a brother?'

Darby Translation
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

English Standard Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?'

George Lamsa Translation
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother?

Good News Translation
Sir, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or another brother?'

Christian Standard Bible®
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

Literal Translation
My lord asked his servants, saying, Is there a brother or a father to you?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
My lorde axed his seruauntes, and sayde: Haue ye yet a father or brother?

American Standard Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

Bible in Basic English
My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
My lorde asked his seruauntes, saying: haue ye a father, or a brother?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
My lord asked his servants, saying: Have ye a father, or a brother?

King James Version (1611)
My lord asked his seruants, saying; Haue ye a father, or a brother?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Sir, thou askedst thy servants, saying, Have ye a father or a brother?

English Revised Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

Berean Standard Bible
My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Thou axidist first thi seruauntis, Han ye a fadir, ether a brother?

Young's Literal Translation
My lord hath asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father or brother?

Update Bible Version
My lord asked his slaves, saying, Have you a father, or a brother?

Webster's Bible Translation
My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

World English Bible
My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

New King James Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, "Have you a father or a brother?'

New Living Translation
"My lord, previously you asked us, your servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

New Life Bible
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?'

New Revised Standard
My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?'

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
It was, my lord, who asked his servants, saying, - Have ye a father, or a brother?

Douay-Rheims Bible
My lord. Thou didst ask thy servants the first time: Have you a father or a brother.

Revised Standard Version
My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father or a brother?'

Contextual Overview

¹⁸ Then Judah went to Joseph and said, "Sir, please let me speak plainly with you. Please don't be angry with me. I know that you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?' ²⁰ And we answered you, ‘We have a father—he is an old man. And we have a younger brother. Our father loves him because he was born while our father was old. This youngest son's brother is dead, so he is the only son who is left from that mother. Our father loves him very much.' ²¹ Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.' ²² And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot come. He cannot leave his father. If his father loses him, his father will be so sad that he will die.' ²³ But you said to us, ‘You must bring your youngest brother, or I will not sell you grain again.' ²⁴ So we went back to our father and told him what you said. ²⁵ "Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.' ²⁶ We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.' ²⁷ Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Genesis 42:7-10, Genesis 43:7, Genesis 43:29

Reciprocal: Genesis 37:7 - your sheaves Genesis 37:9 - the sun

Cross-References

Genesis 43:7
The brothers answered, "He asked lots of questions. He wanted to know all about us and about our family. He asked us, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother at home?' We only answered his questions. We didn't know he would ask us to bring our brother to him!"

Genesis 43:29
Then Joseph saw his brother Benjamin. (Benjamin and Joseph had the same mother.) Joseph said, "Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?" Then Joseph said to Benjamin, "God bless you, my son!"

Genesis 44:7
But the brothers said to the servant, "Why does the governor say these things? We wouldn't do anything like that!

Genesis 44:10
The servant said, "I agree, except that only the man who is found to have the cup will be my slave. The others will be free."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My lord asked his servants,.... The first time they came down to Egypt to buy corn; he puts him in mind of what passed between them at that time:

saying, have ye a father or a brother? which question followed upon their saying that they were the sons of one man, Genesis 42:11.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

- The Ten Brothers Were Tested

Joseph has had the satisfaction of seeing his brother Benjamin safe and well. He has heard his brothers acknowledging their guilt concerning himself. He resolves to put their attachment to Benjamin, and the genuineness of their change of disposition, to a test that will at the same time expose Benjamin to no hazard.

Genesis 44:1-5

And my cup. - Besides returning each man’s money as before, a silver cup of Joseph’s is put in Benjamin’s bag, after which, when daylight comes, they are dismissed. They are scarcely out of the town when Joseph’s steward is ordered to overtake them, and charge them with stealing the cup. “And whereby indeed he divineth.” Divining by cups, we learn from this, was a common custom in Egypt (Herodotus ii. 83). It is here mentioned to enhance the value of the cup. Whether Joseph really practised any sort of divination cannot be determined from this passage.

Genesis 44:6-12

The cup is found in Benjamin’s bag. “Spake unto them these words.” The words of Joseph, supplying of course the mention of the cup which is expressed in the text only by the pronoun this. “We brought back to thee.” Silver that we might have retained, and to which you made no claim when we tendered it, we brought back. How or why should we therefore, steal silver? “Now also according to your words let it be.” He adopts their terms with a mitigation. He with whom the cup is found shall become a slave for life, and the rest be acquitted. The steward searches from the oldest to the youngest. The cup is found where it was put.

Genesis 44:13-17

“They rent their garments;” the natural token of a sorrow that knows no remedy. “And Judah went.” He had pledged himself for the safety of Benjamin to his father. And he was yet there; awaiting no doubt the result which he anticipated. “They fell before him on the earth.” It is no longer a bending of the head or bowing of the body, but the posture of deepest humiliation. How deeply that early dream penetrated into the stern reality! “Wot ye not that such a man as I doth certainly divine?” Joseph keeps up the show of resentment for a little longer, and brings out from Judah the most pathetic plea of its kind that ever was uttered. “The God,” the great and only God, “hath found out the iniquity of thy servants;” in our dark and treacherous dealing with our brother. “Behold, we are servants to my lord.” He resigns himself and all to perpetual bondage, as the doom of a just God upon their still-remembered crime. “He shall be my servant; and ye, go up in peace to your father.” Now is the test applied with the nicest adjustment. Now is the moment of agony and suspense to Joseph. Will my brothers prove true? says he within himself. Will Judah prove adequate to the occasion? say we. His pleading with his father augured well.

Verse 18-34

“And Judah came near unto him.” He is going to surrender himself as a slave for life, that Benjamin may go home with his brothers, who are permitted to depart. “Let thy servant now speak a word in the ears of my lord.” There is nothing here but respectful calmness of demeanor. “And let not thine anger burn against thy servant.” He intuitively feels that the grand vizier is a man of like feelings with himself. He will surmount the distinction of rank, and stand with him on the ground of a common humanity. “For so art thou as Pharaoh.” Thou hast power to grant or withhold my request. This forms, the exordium of the speech. Then follows the plea. This consists in a simple statement of the facts, which Judah expects to have its native effect upon a rightly-constituted heart. We will not touch this statement, except to explain two or three expressions. A young lad - a comparative youth. “Let me set mine eyes upon him” - regard him with favor and kindness. “He shall leave his father and he shall die.” If he were to leave his father, his father would die. Such is the natural interpretation of these words, as the paternal affection is generally stronger than the filial. “And now let thy servant now abide instead of the lad a servant to my lord.” Such is the humble and earnest petition of Judah. He calmly and firmly sacrifices home, family, and birthright, rather than see an aged father die of a broken heart.