Genesis 42:12
in Genesis 42“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
KJV
And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
⋯
This verse in Genesis 42
Commentary
4 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Ye are spies--This is a suspicion entertained regarding strangers in all Eastern countries down to the present day. Joseph, however, who was well aware that his brethren were not spies, has been charged with cruel dissimulation, with a deliberate violation of what he knew to be the truth, in imputing to them such a character.
This site's exposition
Your servants have come to buy food
on Genesis 42:10-13
Under pressure they hand over the family register, twelve brothers, and one brother is no more. John Gill notes their first answer sounded as if there were no other sons, so the fuller count reads like a story adjusted under test. The brother they call no more is listening.
This site's exposition
You have come to see if our land is vulnerable
Vulnerable renders a Hebrew word for nakedness, the unguarded places of a country. Egypt lay most open on the northeast, the road from Canaan, so ten men from that quarter could pass for scouts. Joseph repeats the charge to keep them talking.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And he said unto them, nay,.... This argument will not do, I am not to be put off with such words as these; if you can produce no better proof of your being honest men than this, or give no better account of yourselves, I must abide by it, that: to see the nakedness of the land ye are come; this he urged in order to get a further account from them of their family and the state of it, which he was anxious to know.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֖אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲלֵהֶ֑ם | ʾalehem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| לֹ֕א | lo' | In- | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | deed | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עֶרְוַ֥ת | ʾervat | [the] nakedness of | H6172 → | 54 times |
| הָאָ֖רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| בָּאתֶ֥ם | batem | you have come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| לִרְאֽוֹת׃ | lirot | to see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
וַיֹּ֖אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֲלֵהֶ֑םto them
ʾalehemH413 →5510 times
לֹ֕אIn-
lo'H3808 →5168 times
כִּֽי־deed
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עֶרְוַ֥ת[the] nakedness of
ʾervatH6172 →54 times
הָאָ֖רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
בָּאתֶ֥םyou have come
batemH935 →2568 times
לִרְאֽוֹת׃to see
lirotH7200 →1300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763).