New International Version
Genesis 42:18
18On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
Genesis 42:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
- English Standard Version (ESV)On the third day Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God:
- New King James Version (NKJV)Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God:
- New Living Translation (NLT)On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.
Context of Genesis 42:18
16Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17And he put them all in custody for three days. On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19If 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. 20But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.
Read all of Genesis 42Genesis 42:18 word by word
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֲלֵהֶ֤ם יוֹסֵף֙ בַּיּ֣וֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֔י זֹ֥את עֲשׂ֖וּ וִֽחְי֑וּ אֶת־הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים אֲנִ֥י יָרֵֽא׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Genesis 42:18
- Genesis 20:11Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
- Leviticus 25:43Do not rule over them ruthlessly, but fear your God.
- Nehemiah 5:9So I continued, “What you are doing is not right. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of our Gentile enemies?
- Luke 18:2He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought.
Commentaries on Genesis 42:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18I fear God - ירא אני האלהים את eth haelohim ani yare, literally translated the passage runs thus, I also fear the gods; but the emphatic ה ha is probably added by Joseph, both here and in his conversation with Pharaoh, the more particularly to point out the eminence and perfection of the Supreme Being as contradistinguished from the gods of Egypt. He seems to say to his brethren, I am a worshipper of the true God, and ye have nothing to fear.Read the comment
- 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 42:18
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
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