On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you will live.
Parallel translations
- WEB Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
- KJV And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
- BSB and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live:
- NKJV Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God:
- NASB Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God:
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
On the third day Joseph offers a way to live, declaring "I fear God." His reverence for God shapes how he treats them, with justice tempered by mercy.
Overview
Joseph's softened terms reveal that his severity was never tyranny; he answers to God, not merely to Pharaoh. "I fear God" signals that even in pagan Egypt Joseph holds to the faith of his fathers, restraining the power he wields. His conduct models how a believer exercises authority under God, a foreshadowing of Christ who rules with both righteousness and compassion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Lev 25:43You shall not rule over him with harshness, but shall fear your God.
- Neh 5:15But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.
- Gen 20:11Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife’s sake.’
- Luke 18:2saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
- Neh 5:9Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?
- Luke 18:4He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 42:18 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.