Genesis 42:15

15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Genesis 42:15 in Other Translations

15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

15 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

15 This is how I will test your story. I swear by the life of Pharaoh that you will never leave Egypt unless your youngest brother comes here!

15 This is how I'll test you. As Pharaoh lives, you're not going to leave this place until your younger brother comes here.

15 hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

15 This is how you'll be tested: I solemnly swear, as surely as Pharaoh lives, that you won't leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

15 This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

15 So I'm going to put you to the test. You can be sure that Pharaoh lives. And you can be just as sure that you won't leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. I promise with an oath that you won't leave here.

Genesis 42:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:15

Hereby ye shall be proved
Whether spies, or not, namely, by producing their youngest brother, said to be at home with his father: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your
youngest brother come hither:
the phrase, "by the life of Pharaoh", seems to be the form of an oath, as it was common with many nations, especially with the Scythians, who used to swear by the royal throne {a}, and the Romans, in later times, by the life, health, and genius of their emperor; and this custom of swearing by the life of their king, or by his head, continued with the Egyptians, as Aben Ezra says, unto his times; though some take this to be a wish or prayer for the life of Pharaoh, and render it, "may Pharaoh live" ^F2, or, at most, but a strong asseveration, that as dear as the life of Pharaoh was to him, so surely they should not stir from the place where they were, unless their youngest brother Benjamin was brought thither.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Herodot. Melpomene, sive, l. 4. c. 68.
F2 (herp yx) "vivat Parhoh", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; so Ainsworth and Lightfoot.

Genesis 42:15 In-Context

13 But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

14 Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies!

15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

17 And he put them all in custody for three days.

Cross References

• 1. 1 Samuel 17:55
• 2. S ver 11; Ge 43:3,5,7; Genesis 44:21,23