God’s Word Translation
Genesis 42:19
19If you are honest men, you will let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you will go and take grain back to your starving families.
Genesis 42:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
- New International Version (NIV)If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households.
- English Standard Version (ESV)if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households,
- New King James Version (NKJV)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.
Context of Genesis 42:19
17Then he put them in jail for three days. 18On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this, and you will live. I, too, fear God. If you are honest men, you will let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you will go and take grain back to your starving families. 20But you must bring me your youngest brother. This will show that you’ve been telling the truth. Then you won’t die.” So they agreed. 21They said to each other, “We’re surely being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw how troubled he was when he pleaded with us for mercy, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in trouble now.”
Read all of Genesis 42Genesis 42:19 word by word
אִם־כֵּנִ֣ים אַתֶּ֔ם אֲחִיכֶ֣ם אֶחָ֔ד יֵאָסֵ֖ר בְּבֵ֣ית מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם וְאַתֶּם֙ לְכ֣וּ הָבִ֔יאוּ שֶׁ֖בֶר רַעֲב֥וֹן בָּתֵּיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- trueכֵּןkên · rightH3651
- let oneאֶחָד'echâd · oneH259
- of your brethrenאָח'âch · brother: male-siblingH251
- be boundאָסַר'âsar · to bindH631
- in the houseבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
- of your prisonמִשְׁמָרmishmâr · custodyH4929
- goיָלַךְyâlak · to walkH3212
- ye, carryבּוֹאbô' · to come (in): bringH935
- cornשֶׁ֫בֶרsheber · grainH7668
- for the famineרְעָבוֹןre‛âbôn · famineH7459
- of your housesבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: householdH1004
Cross-references for Genesis 42:19
- Genesis 40:3He put them in the prison of the captain of the guard, the same place where Joseph was a prisoner.
- Isaiah 42:7You will give sight to the blind, bring prisoners out of prisons, and bring those who live in darkness out of dungeons.
- Jeremiah 37:15The officials were so angry with Jeremiah that they beat him and put him in prison in the scribe Jonathan’s house, which had been turned into a prison.
- Genesis 42:1When Jacob found out that grain was for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at each other?
- Genesis 41:56When the famine had spread all over the country, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. He did this because the famine was severe in Egypt.
- Genesis 43:1The famine was severe in the land.
- Genesis 45:23He sent his father ten male donkeys carrying Egypt’s best products and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and food for his father’s trip.
Commentaries on Genesis 42:19
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 1-38Verses 1-38 - 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…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-20Verses 7-20 Joseph was hard upon his brethren, not from a spirit of revenge, but to bring them to repentance. Not seeing his brother Benjamin, he suspected that they had made away with him, and he gave them occasion to speak of their father and brother. God, in his providence, sometimes seems harsh with those he loves, and speaks roughly to those for whom yet he has great mercy in store. Joseph settled at last, that one of them should be left, and the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-20Rather than keep all but one, Joseph would release all but one to take grain home to their starving families.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 17-2417-24. put them ... into ward three days--Their confinement had been designed to bring them to salutary reflection. And this object was attained, for they looked upon the retributive justice of God as now pursuing them in that foreign land. The drift of their conversation is one of the most striking instances on record of the power of conscience [Ge 42:21, 22].Read the comment
Topics related to Genesis 42:19
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Genesis 42
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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