Genesis 42:19
in Genesis 42If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in your prison-house; but go ye, carry grain for the famine of your houses:
KJV
If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
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This verse in Genesis 42
Commentary
4 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
I fear God
on Genesis 42:18-20
On the third day the terms turn around, one brother held and nine sent home with grain. Joseph gives his reason in three words, I fear God. Adam Clarke notes the definite article, ha-Elohim, which sets the God Joseph fears apart from the gods of the land he governs.
This site's exposition
leave one of your brothers in custody
The new terms keep one brother in custody and send nine home with grain for their hungry households. The brothers once showed no such care for Joseph. The one held back tests whether the others will return for a brother.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
If ye be true men,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
put them . . . into ward three days--Their confinement had been designed to bring them to salutary reflection. And this object was attained, for they looked upon the retributive justice of God as now pursuing them in that foreign land. The drift of their conversation is one of the most striking instances on record of the power of conscience [Ge 42:21, 22].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| כֵּנִ֣ים | kenim | [are] honest | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אַתֶּ֔ם | ʾatem | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| אֲחִיכֶ֣ם | ʾachikhem | brother your | H251 → | 630 times |
| אֶחָ֔ד | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
| יֵאָסֵ֖ר | yeaser | let him be imprisoned | H631 → | 72 times |
| בְּבֵ֣ית | beveit | in [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑ם | mishmarkhem | custody your | H4929 → | 22 times |
| וְאַתֶּם֙ | veatem | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| לְכ֣וּ | lekhu | go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| הָבִ֔יאוּ | haviu | take | H935 → | 2568 times |
| שֶׁ֖בֶר | shever | [the] grain of | H7668 → | 9 times |
| רַעֲב֥וֹן | raavon | [the] hunger of | H7459 → | |
| בָּתֵּיכֶֽם׃ | bateikhem | households your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
כֵּנִ֣ים[are] honest
kenimH3651 →771 times
אַתֶּ֔םyou
ʾatemH859 →1094 times
אֲחִיכֶ֣םbrother your
ʾachikhemH251 →630 times
אֶחָ֔דone
ʾechadH259 →971 times
יֵאָסֵ֖רlet him be imprisoned
yeaserH631 →72 times
בְּבֵ֣יתin [the] house of
beveitH1004 →2046 times
מִשְׁמַרְכֶ֑םcustody your
mishmarkhemH4929 →22 times
וְאַתֶּם֙and you
veatemH859 →1094 times
לְכ֣וּgo
lekhuH1980 →1546 times
הָבִ֔יאוּtake
haviuH935 →2568 times
שֶׁ֖בֶר[the] grain of
sheverH7668 →9 times
רַעֲב֥וֹן[the] hunger of
raavonH7459 →
בָּתֵּיכֶֽם׃households your
bateikhemH1004 →2046 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
Isaiah 42:7to open the eyes of the blind, to bring prisoners out of the dungeon and those sitting in darkness out from the prison house.
it leads to
- Ephesians 1:17–18
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in your knowledge of Him.
- Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty…
- Isaiah 49:9
to say to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves.’ They will feed along the pathways, and find pasture on every barren hill.
- Isaiah 35:5
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
- 2 Timothy 2:26
Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.
- Ephesians 1:17–18
Through
Genesis 45:23And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.
it leads to
- Exodus 16:3
“If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us…
- Genesis 24:10
Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all manner of good things from his master in hand. And he set out for Nahor’s hometown in Aram-naharaim.
- Genesis 43:11
Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift…
- Exodus 16:3
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
