They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” They bowed down humbly.
Parallel translations
- KJV And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.
- BSB “Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.
- NKJV And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.
- NASB And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” Then they bowed down again in homage.
- NLT “Yes,” they replied. “Our father, your servant, is alive and well.” And they bowed low again.
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 report their father is well and alive, and bow down humbly again. Their renewed homage continues to fulfill Joseph's dreams.
Overview
The brothers' answer assures Joseph that Jacob still lives, deepening his longing for reunion. Their repeated bowing once more enacts the submission God foretold. The moment underscores the faithfulness of God's word across the long years of separation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Gen 37:7for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
- Gen 43:26When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.
- Exod 18:7Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and bowed and kissed him. They asked each other of their welfare, and they came into the tent.
- 2 Sam 14:4When the woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, she fell on her face to the ground, showed respect, and said, “Help, O king!”
- 2 Sam 1:2on the third day, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul, with his clothes torn, and earth on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the earth, and showed respect.
- Gen 37:9–10He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
- 1 Kgs 1:16Bathsheba bowed, and showed respect to the king. The king said, “What would you like?”
- 2 Chr 24:17Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came, and bowed down to the king. Then the king listened to them.
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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 43:28 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
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