So Joseph imprisoned them for three days,
Parallel translations
- WEB He put them all together into custody for three days.
- KJV And he put them all together into ward three days.
- NKJV So he put them all together in prison three days.
- NASB So he put them all together in prison for three days.
- NLT So Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Joseph confines all the brothers together for three days. The brief imprisonment lets them feel the distress they once inflicted on him.
Overview
Three days in custody gives the brothers a taste of the captivity Joseph endured when they sold him and when he sat in prison. The shared confinement prompts the reflection and guilt that surface in the verses that follow. Joseph's measured discipline aims not at revenge but at awakening conscience.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Gen 40:4The captain of the guard assigned them to Joseph, and he became their personal attendant. After they had been in custody for some time,
- Heb 12:10Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness.
- Gen 40:7So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “Why are your faces so downcast today?”
- Acts 5:18and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
- Gen 41:10Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guard.
- Lev 24:12They placed him in custody until the will of the LORD should be made clear to them.
- Ps 119:65You are good to Your servant, O LORD, according to Your word.
- Isa 24:22They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.
- Acts 4:3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in custody until the next day.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 42:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.