"The famine was severe in the land of Canaan"
"when Jacob and his family had eaten"
"Jacob's older sons had brought"
Here "us" refers to Jacob, his sons, and the rest of the family.
"Judah told his father Jacob"
This refers to Joseph, but the brothers did not know it was Joseph.
"warned us that we would not see his face unless we brought our youngest brother with us"
"was very serious when he warned us, saying"
"You will not see me"
Judah is referring to Benjamin, Rachel's last born before she died.
"Why did you cause me so much trouble"
"The man asked many questions"
Here "us" is exclusive and refers to the brothers who went to Egypt and spoke with "the man."
"He asked us directly if our father was still alive and if we had another brother."
"We answered the questions he asked us"
"We will go now to Egypt and get grain so our whole family will live"
Here "we" refers to the brothers.
Here "you" is singular and refers to Israel.
Here "our" refers to the brothers. This refers to the small children who were most likely to die during a famine.
"I will promise to bring him back"
"You will make me answer to you about what happens to Benjamin"
"you may blame me"
"we could have gone and returned twice"
"If this is our only choice, then do it"
an oily substance with a sweet smell used for healing and protecting skin. Alternate translation: "medicine"
seasonings.
small, green tree nuts
tree nuts with a sweet flavor
"Take double the money with you"
"take back to Egypt the money someone put in your sacks"
"Take also Benjamin"
"return"
"May God Almighty cause the man to be kind to you"
"Simeon"
"If I lose my children, then I lose my children." This means that Jacob knows he must accept whatever happens to his sons.
"they took"
"Benjamin with Joseph's older brothers"
The "steward" was responsible for managing Joseph's household activities.
"Joseph's brothers were afraid"
"The steward is bringing us into the house because of the money that someone put back in our sacks"
"He is waiting for the opportunity to accuse us, so that he might arrest us"
"when we came to the place that we were going to stay for the night"
The word "behold" here shows that the brothers were surprised by what they saw.
"each one of us found the full amount of his money in his sack"
"We have brought the money back with us"
"We have also brought more money to buy food"
"Relax" or "Calm yourselves"
"Your God, the God your father worships"
This custom helped tired travelers to refresh themselves after walking long distances.
"Feed" is dry food that is set aside for animals
"Our father who serves you"
They lay down in front of the man to show him respect.
This means "he looked up."
"his mother's son. Joseph said"
"young man"
"for he had strong feelings of compassion for his brother" or "for he had strong feelings of affection for his brother"
"and said to his servants"
This means to distribute the food so that people may eat.
"The servants served Joseph by himself and the brothers by themselves and the Egyptians, who were eating with him, by themselves"
This can be translated as a new sentence: "They did this because the Egyptians thought it was shameful to eat with the Hebrews"
"The brothers sat across from the man, according to how he arranged their places"
The "firstborn" and the "youngest" are used together to mean all the brothers were sitting in order according to their age.
"The men were very surprised when they realized this"
"But Benjamin received a portion that was much bigger than what his brothers received"