“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food.
Parallel translations
- WEB and said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.
- KJV And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:
- NKJV and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food;
- NASB and said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food,
- NLT “Sir,” they said, “we came to Egypt once before to buy food.
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
They respectfully remind the steward they came the first time only to buy food. They begin their honest account of the silver.
Overview
Addressing him as "my lord," the brothers carefully set out the facts to clear themselves. Their straightforward truth-telling marks growth from the men who once lied to their father. The explanation prepares for the steward's surprising word of grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Gen 42:3So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
- Gen 42:10“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.
- Gen 43:3But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’
- Gen 42:27At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack.
- Gen 43:7They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”
- Gen 42:35As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.
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 43:20 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.