Genesis 43:28
in Genesis 43“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And they said, Thy servant our father is well, he is yet alive. And they bowed the head, and made obeisance.
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.
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This verse in Genesis 43
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
they bowed to the ground before him
on Genesis 43:26-28
Joseph's question at the meal is about his father, whether the old man is still alive. They answer that their father is well, and they call him your servant. The words put Jacob under the son he believes dead. They bowed when they handed over the gift and bowed again when they answered about their father.
This site's exposition
And they bowed down to honor him
Two Hebrew verbs stand behind the bowing, qadad, to bend the head, and shachah, to fall prostrate. Abraham's servant used the same pair before the LORD at 24:26. Here the brothers bowed down to Joseph with it while naming their father his servant.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And they answered, thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive,....
The great kindness that Joseph showed to them, while they little thought it was a brotherly kindness. His kind enquiry concerning Jacob: Is he yet alive? --a very fit question to be asked concerning any, especially concerning old people; for we are dying daily: it is strange that we are yet alive.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמְר֗וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| שָׁל֛וֹם | shalom | health | H7965 → | 236 times |
| לְעַבְדְּךָ֥ | leavdekha | [belongs] to servant your | H5650 → | 799 times |
| לְאָבִ֖ינוּ | leavinu | to father our | H1 → | 1212 times |
| עוֹדֶ֣נּוּ | odenu | still he | H5750 → | 490 times |
| חָ֑י | chai | [is] alive | H2416 → | 498 times |
| וַֽיִּקְּד֖וּ | vaiyikedu | and they bowed low | H6915 → | 15 times |
| וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוּֽוּ׃ | vaiyishtachu | and they bowed down | H7812 → | 172 times |
וַיֹּאמְר֗וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
שָׁל֛וֹםhealth
shalomH7965 →236 times
לְעַבְדְּךָ֥[belongs] to servant your
leavdekhaH5650 →799 times
לְאָבִ֖ינוּto father our
leavinuH1 →1212 times
עוֹדֶ֣נּוּstill he
odenuH5750 →490 times
חָ֑י[is] alive
chaiH2416 →498 times
וַֽיִּקְּד֖וּand they bowed low
vaiyikeduH6915 →15 times
וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲוּֽוּ׃and they bowed down
vaiyishtachuH7812 →172 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 37:7We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
it leads to
- Genesis 42:6
Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 44:14
When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.
- Genesis 43:26
When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him.
- Genesis 42:9
Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
- Genesis 42:6
Through
Genesis 43:26When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him.
it leads to
- Philippians 2:10–11
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
- Genesis 27:29
May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you…
- Genesis 37:19–20
“Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another.
- Romans 14:11
It is written: “As surely as I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow before Me; every tongue will confess to God.”
- Philippians 2:10–11
About Genesis
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.