Genesis 43:10
in Genesis 43If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
for except we had lingered, surely we had now returned a second time.
KJV
For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.
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This verse in Genesis 43
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
I will guarantee his safety
on Genesis 43:9-10
I will guarantee his safety translates the Hebrew arab, to stand as surety, which is to become the pledge that answers for another. He had left a pledge once before, the signet and staff at the roadside in 38:18. Hebrews 7:22 gives Jesus the same standing.
This site's exposition
If we had not delayed
Judah counts the cost of their father's delay, a whole trip to Egypt and back lost while Simeon waited in custody. The famine was still severe. His pledge for the boy in verse 9 comes first, and then this plain push to go.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For except we had lingered,.... Delayed going down to Egypt, through the demur Jacob made of tending Benjamin with them: surely now we had returned this second time; they would have made their journey to Egypt, and returned again with their corn, and their brother Benjamin too, as Judah supposed, before this time; so that by these delays they were losing time, and involving themselves and families in distress for want of corn.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
If we had not hesitated until now, we could have been there and back twice.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Do according to the following counsel. 3 Zot (this) is feminine.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֖י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לוּלֵ֣א | lule' | if not | H3884 → | |
| הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְנוּ | hitmahmahenu | we had delayed | H4102 → | |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| עַתָּ֥ה | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| שַׁ֖בְנוּ | shavnu | we have returned | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| זֶ֥ה | zeh | this | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| פַעֲמָֽיִם׃ | faamayim | two times | H6471 → | 118 times |
כִּ֖יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
לוּלֵ֣אif not
lule'H3884 →
הִתְמַהְמָ֑הְנוּwe had delayed
hitmahmahenuH4102 →
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
עַתָּ֥הnow
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
שַׁ֖בְנוּwe have returned
shavnuH7725 →1056 times
זֶ֥הthis
zehH2088 →1180 times
פַעֲמָֽיִם׃two times
faamayimH6471 →118 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 19:16But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for…
it leads to
- Romans 9:15–16
For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Titus 3:5
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
- Psalms 103:13
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
- Psalms 86:5
For You, O Lord, are kind and forgiving, rich in loving devotion to all who call on You.
- Micah 7:18–19
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Romans 9:15–16
Where this verse is studied
About Genesis
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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.