Genesis 42:7

7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he pretended to be a stranger. He spoke to them in a mean way. "Where do you come from?" he asked. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We've come to buy food."

Genesis 42:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:7

And Joseph saw his brethren
Among those that came to buy corn, and when they prostrated themselves before him: and he knew them;
some of them being at man's estate, and their beards grown when they sold him, and their habits and dress now being much the same it was then, and by them he knew the younger: but made himself strange unto them;
took no notice of them as his relations, but carried himself to them as he did to other foreigners, and yet more strangely: and spake roughly unto them;
or hard ^F26 things or words; put on a stern countenance, and spoke with a high tone and in a rough surly manner to them: and he said unto them, whence come ye?
who are ye? of what country are ye? what is your business here? and they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food;
which they could not get in Canaan, the famine being there so great.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (twvq) "dura", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Genesis 42:7 In-Context

5 Israel's sons were among the people who went to buy grain. There wasn't enough food in the land of Canaan.

6 Joseph was the governor of the land. He was the one who sold grain to all of its people. When Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

7 As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them. But he pretended to be a stranger. He spoke to them in a mean way. "Where do you come from?" he asked. "From the land of Canaan," they replied. "We've come to buy food."

8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him.

9 Then Joseph remembered his dreams about them. So he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the places where our land isn't guarded very well."