Genesis 42:7

7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted like he didn't know them. He spoke to them with a harsh tone and said, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan 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 came to buy grain with others who also came since the famine had spread to the land of Canaan.

6 As for Joseph, he was the land's governor, and he was the one selling grain to all the land's people. When Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him, their faces to the ground.

7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted like he didn't know them. He spoke to them with a harsh tone and said, "Where have you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

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

9 Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies. You've come to look for the country's weaknesses."