Bible Strands
Genesis 43:19
So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The brothers address Joseph’s steward at the house entrance immediately after being brought inside and fearing enslavement over the returned silver.
The words — וַֽ/יִּגְּשׁוּ֙ (va/yi.geshu) translates “and they approached,” and וַ/יְדַבְּר֥וּ (va/yedabru) translates “and they spoke,” marking their physical movement and verbal appeal to the man over Joseph’s household.
The thread — This sequence of approaching a superior then speaking follows the immediate narrative of Genesis 43:18 and Genesis 43:20, where fear prompts contact and explanation.
Why it lands — The text records a frightened family initiating contact with a powerful official to clarify their presence, requiring the reader to note how proximity and speech function as the first steps in a crisis.
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
And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house,