Genesis 42:17

New American Standard Bible (1995)

So he put them all together in prison for three days.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
He put them all together into custody three days.

King James Version
And he put them all together into ward three days.

Lexham English Bible
Then he gathered them into the prison for three days.

New Century Version
Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

New English Translation
He imprisoned them all for three days.

Amplified Bible
Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

New American Standard Bible
So he put them all together in prison for three days.

Geneva Bible (1587)
So he put them in warde three dayes.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then he put them all together in prison for three days.

Contemporary English Version
Joseph kept them all under guard for three days,

Complete Jewish Bible
Then he put all of them together in prison for three days.

Darby Translation
And he put them in custody three days.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

English Standard Version
And he put them all together in custody for three days.

George Lamsa Translation
And he put them all together in prison for three days.

Good News Translation
With that, he put them in prison for three days.

Christian Standard Bible®
So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.

Literal Translation
And he gathered them into custody three days.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And he put the together in warde thre dayes longe.

American Standard Version
And he put them all together into ward three days.

Bible in Basic English
So he put them in prison for three days.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And he put them altogether in warde three dayes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And he put them all together into ward three days.

King James Version (1611)
And he put them all together into warde, three dayes.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And he put them in prison three days.

English Revised Version
And he put them all together into ward three days.

Berean Standard Bible
So Joseph imprisoned them for three days,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor he bitook hem to kepyng thre daies; sotheli in the thridde dai,

Young's Literal Translation
and he removeth them unto charge three days.

Update Bible Version
And he put them all together into ward three days.

Webster's Bible Translation
And he put them all together into custody three days.

World English Bible
He put them all together into custody three days.

New King James Version
So he put them all together in prison three days.

New Living Translation
So Joseph put them all in prison for three days.

New Life Bible
He put them all together in prison for three days.

New Revised Standard
And he put them all together in prison for three days.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So he drew them all together into ward, for three days.

Douay-Rheims Bible
So he put them in prison three days.

Revised Standard Version
And he put them all together in prison for three days.

THE MESSAGE
Then he threw them into jail for three days.

Contextual Overview

⁷ When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food." ⁸ But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them, and said to them, "You are spies; you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land." ¹⁰ Then they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ "We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies." ¹² Yet he said to them, "No, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land!" ¹³ But they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive." ¹⁴ Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, you are spies; ¹⁵ by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! ¹⁶ "Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

put: Heb. gathered, Isaiah 24:22, Acts 5:18

ward: Genesis 40:4, Genesis 40:7, Genesis 41:10, Leviticus 24:12, Psalms 119:65, Acts 4:3, Hebrews 12:10

Reciprocal: Genesis 50:15 - Joseph Acts 12:10 - the first

Cross-References

Genesis 40:4
The captain of the bodyguard put Joseph in charge of them, and he took care of them; and they were in confinement for some time.

Genesis 40:7
He asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in confinement in his master's house, "Why are your faces so sad today?"

Genesis 41:10
"Pharaoh was furious with his servants, and he put me in confinement in the house of the captain of the bodyguard, both me and the chief baker.

Leviticus 24:12
They put him in custody so that the command of the LORD might be made clear to them.

Psalms 119:65

Teth.

You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord , according to Your word.

Isaiah 24:22
They will be gathered together Like prisoners in the dungeon, And will be confined in prison; And after many days they will be punished.

Acts 4:3
And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

Acts 5:18
They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.

Hebrews 12:10
For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he put them all together into ward three days. In order to consult together, and agree who should be sent to fetch their brother; and which it seems probable in this length of time they could not agree upon, no one caring to be the bringer of such evil tidings to their father.

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 k^elı̂y, “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.