Genesis 42:32

Old Testament Law (Torah) ASV (1901)

What does Genesis 42:32 say?

The American Standard Version records this verse as: “we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.” Read the surrounding verses and the named sources below before drawing broader conclusions.

The verse

we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
Genesis 42:32 — American Standard Version

Context — Genesis 42

American Standard Version (1901) — public domain. Click any verse for its study page.
32we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

What do historical commentaries say?

John Gill's Exposition
John Gill (1697–1771) · Exposition of the Old and New Testament · 18th-century historical commentary
“We [be] twelve brethren, sons of our father, etc.] All brethren by the father’s side, though not by the mother’s, and by one father; they had been twelve, and were so now, though they knew it not, supposing that one was dead, as is next observed: one [is] not; is not alive, but dead; the Targum of Jonathan is, “what is become of one we know not” and the youngest [is] this day with our father in the land of Canaan; (see <014213> Genesis 42:13).”
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Barnes' Notes
Albert Barnes (1798–1870) · Notes on the Whole Bible · 19th-century historical commentary
“- Joseph and Ten of His Brethren 1. שׁבר sheber, “fragment, crumb, hence, grain.” בר bar “pure,” “winnowed,” hence, “corn” (grain). 6. שׁליט shallı̂yṭ, “ruler, governor, hence,” Sultan. Not elsewhere found in the Pentateuch. 25. כלי kelı̂y, “vessel,” here any portable article in which grain may be conveyed. שׂק śaq, “sack,” the very word which remains in our language to this day. אמתחת 'amtachath “bag.” Twenty years, the period of Joseph’s long and anxious waiting, have come to an end. The dreams of his boyhood are now at length to be fulfilled. The famine has reached the chosen family, and they look at one another perplexed and irresolute, not knowing what to do. Genesis 42:1-5 The aged…”
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Related study paths

Sources and verification