Genesis 43:24

 Genesis 43:24

And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave [them] water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

a. NASB 1995: Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed.  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Classic Amplified:  And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys provender. [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. He provided water and they washed their feet, and gave them feed to their donkeys.   [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV:  And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder,  [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

f. Amplified Bible: [AMPLIFIED BIBLE 2015 AMP Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.]

f. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. “And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave [them] water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.”

a. [And the] man [Strong: 376 ʼîysh, eesh; contracted for H582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):—also, another, any (man), a certain, champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), none, one, people, person, steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

b. brought [Strong: 935 bôwʼ, bo; a primitive root; to go or come (in a wide variety of applications):—abide, apply, attain, × be, befall, besiege, bring (forth, in, into, to pass), call, carry, × certainly, (cause, let, thing for) to come (against, in, out, upon, to pass), depart, × doubtless again, eat, employ, (cause to) enter (in, into, -tering, -trance, -try), be fallen, fetch, follow, get, give, go (down, in, to war), grant, have, × indeed, (in-) vade, lead, lift (up), mention, pull in, put, resort, run (down), send, set, × (well) stricken (in age), × surely, take (in), way.]

c. [Strong: 853 'eth ayth apparent contracted from 226 in the demonstrative sense of entity; properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely):--(as such unrepresented in English).]

d. [the] men [Strong: 376 ʼîysh, eesh; contracted for H582 (or perhaps rather from an unused root meaning to be extant); a man as an individual or a male person; often used as an adjunct to a more definite term (and in such cases frequently not expressed in translation):—also, another, any (man), a certain, champion, consent, each, every (one), fellow, (foot-, husband-) man, (good-, great, mighty) man, he, high (degree), him (that is), husband, man(-kind), none, one, people, person, steward, what (man) soever, whoso(-ever), worthy.]

e. [into] Joseph’s [Strong: 3130 Yôwçêph, yo-safe'; future of H3254; let him add (or perhaps simply active participle adding); Joseph, the name of seven Israelites:—Joseph.]

f. house [Strong: 1004 bayith, bah'-yith; probably from H1129 abbreviated; a house (in the greatest variation of applications, especially family, etc.):—court, daughter, door, + dungeon, family, + forth of, × great as would contain, hangings, home(born), (winter) house(-hold), inside(-ward), palace, place, + prison, + steward, + tablet, temple, web, + within(-out).]

g. [and] gave [Strong: 5414 nâthan, naw-than'; a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):—add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, × avenge, × be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, × doubtless, × without fail, fasten, frame, × get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), × have, × indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), lie, lift up, make, O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, × pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), sing, slander, strike, (sub-) mit, suffer, × surely, × take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, would (to) God, yield.]

h. [them] water [Strong: 4325 mayim, mah'-yim; dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense); water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen:— piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).]

i. [and they] washed [Strong: 7364 râchats, raw-khats'; a primitive root; to lave (the whole or a part of a thing):—bathe (self), wash (self).]

j. [their] feet [Strong: 7272 regel, reh'-gel; from H7270; a foot (as used in walking); by implication, a step; by euphemistically the pudenda:—× be able to endure, × according as, × after, × coming, × follow, (broken-)foot(-ed, -stool), × great toe, × haunt, × journey, leg, piss, possession, time.]

k. [and he] gave [Strong: 5414 nâthan, naw-than'; a primitive root; to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.):—add, apply, appoint, ascribe, assign, × avenge, × be (healed), bestow, bring (forth, hither), cast, cause, charge, come, commit, consider, count, cry, deliver (up), direct, distribute, do, × doubtless, × without fail, fasten, frame, × get, give (forth, over, up), grant, hang (up), × have, × indeed, lay (unto charge, up), (give) leave, lend, let (out), lie, lift up, make, O that, occupy, offer, ordain, pay, perform, place, pour, print, × pull, put (forth), recompense, render, requite, restore, send (out), set (forth), shew, shoot forth (up), sing, slander, strike, (sub-) mit, suffer, × surely, × take, thrust, trade, turn, utter, weep, willingly, withdraw, would (to) God, yield.]

l. [thier] asses [Strong: 2543 chămôwr, kham-ore'; or (shortened) חֲמֹר chămôr; from H2560; a male ass (from its dun red):—(he) ass.]

m. provender [Strong: 4554 miçpôwʼ, mis-po'; from an unused root meaning to collect; fodder:—provender.]

1). Joseph’s ten older brothers had been living with a guilty conscience for over twenty years, they must have thought of Joseph and wondered what had become of him in Egypt.

2). Why did Joseph deal with his brothers the way he did? Some Jewish writers maintain that before Joseph would reveal himself to his brothers he needed to know if they still hated him. If he showed himself here he would never know if they still hated him.  

3). Joseph accused them of being spies after he “remembered the dreams”. According to Genesis 42:6, one of the dreams had just been fulfilled. It is possible that God had already given Joseph the wisdom through dreams about to deal with his brothers before they had ever come to Egypt.