Genesis 42:21 - Forerunner Commentary

Genesis 42:21

19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses.

20 And bring your young^aest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so.

21 Then they said to one another, ^a“We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; ^btherefore this distress has come upon us.”

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, ^a“Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now ^brequired of us.”

23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

24 And he turned himself away from them and ^awept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took ^bSimeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

The Brothers Return to Canaan

25 Then Joseph ^agave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to ^brestore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. ^cThus he did for them.

26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there.

27 But as ^aone of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack.

28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts¹ failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

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

30 “The man who is lord of the land ^aspoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.

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 with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’

33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ^a‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone.

34 And bring your ^ayoungest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may ^btrade in the land.’ ”

35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly ^aeach man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^abereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take ^bBenjamin. All these things are against me.”

37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill 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 ^ahis brother is dead, and he is left alone. ^bIf any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would ^cbring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

Verse Comparison: Genesis 42:21

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Genesis 42:22 >>

American Standard Version
And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

Amplified® Bible
And they said one to another, We are truly guilty about our brother, for we saw the distress {and} anguish of his soul when he begged us [to let him go], and we would not hear. So this distress {and} difficulty has come upon us.

Contemporary English Version
and said to one another, "We're being punished because of Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in, but we refused to help him when he begged us. That's why these terrible things are happening."

Darby English Version
Then they said one to another, We are indeed guilty concerning our brother, whose anguish of soul we saw when he besought us, and we did not hearken; therefore this distress is come upon us.

Good News Bible
and said to one another, "Yes, now we are suffering the consequences of what we did to our brother; we saw the great trouble he was in when he begged for help, but we would not listen. That is why we are in this trouble now."

King James Version
And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

New American Standard Bible
Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."

New International Version
They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us."

New King James Version
Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

N.A.S.B. in E-Prime
Then they said to one another, " Truly we have guilt concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."

Revised Standard Version
Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us and we would not listen; therefore is this distress come upon us."

Young's Literal Translation
And they say one unto another, `Verily we `are' guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, in his making supplication unto us, and we did not hearken: therefore hath this distress come upon us.'

New English Translation
They said to one other,¹ “Surely we’re being punished² because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was³ when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress⁴ has come on us!”

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