So he put them all together in prison 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.
- BSB So Joseph imprisoned them for 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 took care of them. They stayed in prison many days.
- Heb 12:10For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.
- Gen 40:7He asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, saying, “Why do you look so sad today?”
- Acts 5:18and laid hands on the apostles, and put them in public custody.
- Gen 41:10Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker.
- Lev 24:12They put him in custody, until Yahweh’s will should be declared to them.
- Ps 119:65Do good to your servant, according to your word, Yahweh.
- Isa 24:22They 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 4:3They laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was now evening.
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.