Bible Strands
Genesis 42:19
If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Joseph addresses his ten brothers in Egypt, offering terms for their survival after they arrived to purchase grain. He speaks this proposal immediately after declaring his fear of God and promising their lives if they comply.
The words — The Hebrew כֵּנִ֣ים (ke.Nim) translates literally as "honest," establishing the required posture for the brothers' proposal. The phrase יֵאָסֵ֖ר בְּבֵ֣ית מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם specifies that the detained brother must remain "in your custody" rather than in a royal prison.
The thread — This conditional detention mirrors the earlier confinement in Genesis 40:3 and anticipates the grain distribution mechanics detailed in Genesis 41:56. The brothers' immediate agreement in Genesis 42:20 confirms the practical execution of this stipulation.
Why it lands — The verse demands verifiable proof of the brothers' claims before granting relief, prioritizing accountability over immediate charity. It requires the reader to recognize how conditional mercy operates within established authority structures.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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:
Cross-references
- Genesis 40:3 and imprisoned them in the house of the captain of the guard, the same prison where Joseph was confined.
- Genesis 41:56 When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.
- Genesis 42:1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”
- Genesis 42:26 and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.
- Genesis 43:1 Now the famine was still severe in the land.
- Genesis 45:23 And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.
- Isaiah 42:7 to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
- Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people plundered and looted, all trapped in caves or imprisoned in dungeons. They have become plunder with no one to rescue them, and loot with no one to say, “Send them back!”
- Jeremiah 37:15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.