And he put them all together into ward three days.
Parallel translations
- WEB He put them all together into custody for three days.
- BSB So Joseph imprisoned them for 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 40:4And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.
- Heb 12:10For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
- Gen 40:7And he asked Pharaoh’s officers that were with him in the ward of his lord’s house, saying, Wherefore look ye so sadly to day?
- Acts 5:18And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.
- Gen 41:10Pharaoh was wroth with his servants, and put me in ward in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker:
- Lev 24:12And they put him in ward, that the mind of the LORD might be shewed them.
- Ps 119:65Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O LORD, according unto thy word.
- Isa 24:22And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
- Acts 4:3And they laid hands on them, and put them in hold unto the next day: for it was now eventide.
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.