Genesis 42:15

42:15 You will be tested in this way: As surely as Pharaoh lives,¹ you will not depart from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.

Genesis 42:19-20

42:19 If you are honest men, leave one of your brothers confined here in prison² while the rest of you go³ and take grain back for your hungry families.⁴ 42:20 But you must bring⁵ your youngest brother to me. Then⁶ your words will be verified⁷ and you will not die.” They did as he said.⁸

¹tn Heb “[By] the life of Pharaoh.”

sn As surely as Pharaoh lives. Joseph uses an oath formula to let the brothers know the certainty of what he said. There is some discussion in the commentaries on swearing by the life of Pharaoh, but since the formulation here reflects the Hebrew practice, it would be hard to connect the ideas exactly to Egyptian practices. Joseph did this to make the point in a way that his Hebrew brothers would understand. See M. R. Lehmann, “Biblical Oaths,” ZAW 81 (1969): 74-92.

²tn Heb “bound in the house of your prison.”

³tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-temporal.

⁴tn Heb “[for] the hunger of your households.”

⁵tn The imperfect here has an injunctive force.

⁶tn After the injunctive imperfect, this imperfect with vav indicates purpose or result.

⁷tn The Niphal form of the verb has the sense of “to be faithful; to be sure; to be reliable.” Joseph will test his brothers to see if their words are true.

⁸tn Heb “and they did so.”