Genesis 42:29

Revised Standard Version

When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying,

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
They came to Ya`akov their father to the land of Kana`an, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

King James Version
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,

Lexham English Bible
And when they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan they told him everything that had happened to them, saying,

New Century Version
The brothers went to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened.

New English Translation
They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all the things that had happened to them, saying,

Amplified Bible
When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying,

New American Standard Bible
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
And they came vnto Iaakob their father vnto the lande of Canaan, and tolde him all that had befallen them, saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying,

Contemporary English Version
When they returned to the land of Canaan, they told their father Jacob everything that had happened to them:

Complete Jewish Bible
They returned to Ya‘akov their father in the land of Kena‘an and told him all that had happened to them.

Darby Translation
And they came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

Easy-to-Read Version
The brothers went back to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. They told him about everything that had happened.

English Standard Version
When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,

George Lamsa Translation
And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

Good News Translation
When they came to their father Jacob in Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them:

Christian Standard Bible®
When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them:

Literal Translation
And they came to their father Jacob to the land of Canaan. And they told him all that met them, saying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now whan they came home to Iacob their father in the lade of Canaan, they tolde him all that had happened vnto them, & sayde:

American Standard Version
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

Bible in Basic English
So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And they came vnto Iacob their father, vnto the lande of Chanaan, & tolde him all that befell vnto them, saying:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying:

King James Version (1611)
And they came vnto Iacob their father, vnto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell vnto them, saying;

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they came to their father, Jacob, into the land of Chanaan, and reported to him all that had happened to them, saying,

English Revised Version
And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them; saying,

Berean Standard Bible
When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them:

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thei camen to Jacob, her fadir, in the loond of Canaan, and telden to hym alle thingis that bifelden to hem, and seiden,

Young's Literal Translation
And they come in unto Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they declare to him all the things meeting them, saying,

Update Bible Version
And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
And they came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell them, saying,

World English Bible
They came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying,

New King James Version
Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying:

New Living Translation
When the brothers came to their father, Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them.

New Life Bible
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said,

New Revised Standard
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So they came in unto Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, - and told him all that had befallen them saying:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Chanaan, and they told him all things that had befallen them, saying:

THE MESSAGE
When they got back to their father Jacob, back in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened, saying, "The man who runs the country spoke to us roughly and accused us of being spies. We told him, ‘We are honest men and in no way spies. There were twelve of us brothers, sons of one father; one is gone and the youngest is with our father in Canaan.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,

Contextual Overview

²⁹ When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying, ³⁰ "The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the land. ³¹ But we said to him, 'We are honest men, we are not spies; ³² we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' ³³ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. ³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver to you your brother, and you shall trade in the land.'" ³⁵ As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. ³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin; all this has come upon me." ³⁷ Then Reuben said to his father, "Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you." ³⁸ But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Reciprocal: Genesis 44:24 - we told him

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they came unto Jacob their father, unto the land of Canaan,.... Without being pursued and fetched back, or retarded in their journey as they might fear:

and told him all that befell unto them; chiefly what befell them while in Egypt:

saying, as follows.

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.