Genesis 42:7

7 And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, `From whence have ye come?' and they say, `From the land of Canaan -- to buy food.'

Genesis 42:7 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 42:7

And Joseph saw his brethren
Among those that came to buy corn, and when they prostrated themselves before him: and he knew them;
some of them being at man's estate, and their beards grown when they sold him, and their habits and dress now being much the same it was then, and by them he knew the younger: but made himself strange unto them;
took no notice of them as his relations, but carried himself to them as he did to other foreigners, and yet more strangely: and spake roughly unto them;
or hard ^F26 things or words; put on a stern countenance, and spoke with a high tone and in a rough surly manner to them: and he said unto them, whence come ye?
who are ye? of what country are ye? what is your business here? and they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food;
which they could not get in Canaan, the famine being there so great.

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FOOTNOTES:

F26 (twvq) "dura", Pagninus, Montanus, Drusius, Piscator, Schmidt.

Genesis 42:7 In-Context

5 And the sons of Israel come to buy in the midst of those coming, for the famine hath been in the land of Canaan,

6 and Joseph is the ruler over the land, he who is selling to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brethren come and bow themselves to him -- face to the earth.

7 And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, `From whence have ye come?' and they say, `From the land of Canaan -- to buy food.'

8 And Joseph discerneth his brethren, but they have not discerned him,

9 and Joseph remembereth the dreams which he dreamed of them, and saith unto them, `Ye [are] spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye have come.'