And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

GENESIS 43:7KJV
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Genesis 43:7 (KJV)

What does Genesis 43:7 mean?

Genesis 43:7 records the brothers’ defense of their decision to tell an Egyptian official about their family. They say his detailed questions led them to disclose that their father was alive and that they had another brother. They did not expect him to demand that they bring that brother to Egypt.

The brothers are speaking to their father, Jacob, after he asks why they told the man about another brother. The man is Joseph, though his brothers do not recognize him. Their final question, “could we certainly know,” presents his demand as something they could not have anticipated.

The Hebrew behind Genesis 43:7

  • “asked us straitly” — שָׁאַל (sha’al): The verb means “to ask.” Its repeated form gives the sense of close or persistent questioning; “straitly” here means closely, not honestly.
  • “according to the tenor of these words” — פֶּה (peh): The word can mean “mouth” and, by extension, what someone says. The phrase means that the brothers answered in keeping with the questions put to them.
  • “could we certainly know” — יָדַע (yadaʿ): The verb means “to know.” Its repeated form adds force to the question, emphasizing the brothers’ claim that they had no way to foresee the demand.

Why Genesis 43:7 matters

  • The demand concerns Benjamin, the younger brother Jacob is reluctant to send. The words “Bring your brother down” explain why the earlier conversation in Egypt now affects the family’s decision.
  • The brothers describe events from their own limited point of view. Readers know the official is Joseph, but the brothers still call him “the man,” making their uncertainty about his purpose understandable.

Where else these words appear

“kindred” Hebrew H4138 · used in 21 verses

  • Genesis 11:28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.
  • Genesis 32:9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the LORD which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:
  • Esther 2:20 Esther had not yet shewed her kindred nor her people; as Mordecai had charged her: for Esther did the commandment of Mordecai, like as when she was brought up with him.

“according” Hebrew H5921 · used in 48 verses

  • Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
  • Genesis 31:50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, or if thou shalt take other wives beside my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee.
  • 1 Chronicles 9:28 And certain of them had the charge of the ministering vessels, that they should bring them in and out by tale.

“ye” Hebrew H3426 · used in 129 verses

  • Genesis 18:24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
  • 1 Samuel 23:23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hideth himself, and come ye again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall come to pass, if he be in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah.
  • Psalms 135:17 They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths.