Genesis 42:23

(Now ¹  they did not know that Joseph could understand them, ²  for he was speaking through an interpreter.) ³ 

They did not realise that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter.

They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them.

Of course, they didn’t know that Joseph understood them as he was standing there, for he had been speaking to them through an interpreter.

Joseph had been using an interpreter, so they didn't know that Joseph was understanding every word.

They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.

They did not know that Joseph understood them, since he spoke with them through an interpreter.

But they did not know that Joseph understood them , for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

(Now ¹  they did not know that Joseph could understand them, ²  for he was speaking through an interpreter.) ³ 

¹ tn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story.

² tn “was listening.” The brothers were not aware that Joseph could understand them as they spoke the preceding words in their native language.

³ tn Heb “for [there was] an interpreter between them.” On the meaning of the word here translated “interpreter” see HALOT 590 s.v. מֵלִיץ and M. A. Canney, “The Hebrew melis (Prov IX 12; Gen XLII 2-3),” AJSL 40 (1923/24): 135-37.