Genesis 42:21

They said to one other, ¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁴  has come on us!”

They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us."

Then they said to one another, "Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us."

Speaking among themselves, they said, "This has all happened because of what we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his terror and anguish and heard his pleadings, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why this trouble has come upon us."

Then they started talking among themselves. "Now we're paying for what we did to our brother--we saw how terrified he was when he was begging us for mercy. We wouldn't listen to him and now we're the ones in trouble."

And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us.

They said to one another, "Alas, we are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother; we saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this anguish has come upon us."

Then they said to one another, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us."

They said to one other, ¹  “Surely we’re being punished ²  because of our brother, because we saw how distressed he was ³  when he cried to us for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress ⁴  has come on us!”

¹ tn Heb “a man to his neighbor.”

² tn Or “we are guilty”; the Hebrew word can also refer to the effect of being guilty, i.e., “we are being punished for guilt.”

³ tn Heb “the distress of his soul.”

⁴ sn The repetition of the Hebrew noun translated distress draws attention to the fact that they regard their present distress as appropriate punishment for their refusal to ignore their brother when he was in distress.