Genesis 43:33

Genesis 43:33

And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.

a. NASB 1995: Now they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV:  And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Amplified Bible: Now Joseph’s brothers were seated [by the steward] before him [in the order of their birth]—the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked at one another in astonishment [because so much was known about them].  [AMPLIFIED BIBLE 2015 AMP Amplified Bible Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: They were seated before him, the forstborn according to their seniority and the youngest according to his youth. The men looked at one another in astonishment.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement.  [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. Unless otherwise stated, all Greek and Hebrew definitions are from Blue Letter Bible

1. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another.

a. [And they] sat [Strong: 3427 yâshab, yaw-shab'; a primitive root; properly, to sit down (specifically as judge. in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to remain; causatively, to settle, to marry:—(make to) abide(-ing), continue, (cause to, make to) dwell(-ing), ease self, endure, establish, × fail, habitation, haunt, (make to) inhabit(-ant), make to keep (house), lurking, × marry(-ing), (bring again to) place, remain, return, seat, set(-tle), (down-) sit(-down, still, -ting down, -ting (place) -uate), take, tarry.]

b. before [him] [Strong: 6440 pânîym, paw-neem'; plural (but always as singular) of an unused noun פָּנֶה pâneh; from H6437); the face (as the part that turns); used in a great variety of applications (literally and figuratively); also (with prepositional prefix) as a preposition (before, etc.):— accept, a-(be-) fore(-time), against, anger, × as (long as), at, battle, because (of), beseech, countenance, edge, employ, endure, enquire, face, favour, fear of, for, forefront(-part), form(-er time, -ward), from, front, heaviness, × him(-self), honourable, impudent, in, it, look(-eth) (-s), × me, meet, × more than, mouth, of, off, (of) old (time), × on, open, out of, over against, the partial, person, please, presence, prospect, was purposed, by reason of, regard, right forth, serve, × shewbread, sight, state, straight, street, × thee, × them(-selves), through ( -out), till, time(-s) past, (un-) to(-ward), upon, upside ( down), with(-in, -stand), × ye, × you.]

c. [the] firstborn [Strong: 1060 bᵉkôwr, bek-ore'; from H1069; first-born; hence, chief:—eldest (son), firstborn(-ling).]

d. [according to his]birthright [Strong: 1062 bᵉkôwrâh, bek-o-raw'; or (short) בְּכֹרָה bᵉkôrâh; feminine of H1060; the firstling of man or beast; abstractly primogeniture:—birthright, firstborn(-ling).]

e. [and the] youngest [Strong: 1068 tsâʻîyr, tsaw-eer'; or צָעוֹר tsâʻôwr; from H6819; little; (in number) few; (in age) young, (in value) ignoble:—least, little (one), small (one), young(-er, -est).]

f. [according to his] youth [Strong: 6812 tsᵉʻîyrâh, tseh-ee-raw'; feminine of H6810; smallness (of age), i.e. juvenility:—youth.]

g. [and 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.]

h. marveled [Strong: 8539 tâmahh, taw-mah'; a primitive root; to be in consternation:—be amazed, be astonished, marvel(-lously), wonder.]

i. one [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.]

j. at [Strong: 413 ʼêl, ale; (but used only in the shortened constructive form אֶל ʼel, el); a primitive particle; properly, denoting motion towards, but occasionally used of a quiescent position, i.e. near, with or among; often in general, to:—about, according to, after, against, among, as for, at, because (-fore, -side), both...and, by, concerning, for, from, × hath, in (-to), near, (out) of, over, through, to (-ward), under, unto, upon, whether, with (-in).

k. another [Strong: 7453 rêaʻ, ray'-ah; or רֵיעַ rêyaʻ; from H7462; an associate (more or less close):—brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbour, × (an-) other.]

1). ICR 11/14/11 When creationists calculate the extremely low probability of the chance origin of life, many evolutionists scoff at the calculation, alleging that any one arrangement of the components of a simple, living molecule is just as likely as any other arrangement, so it is no great marvel that the components fell into this particular arrangement. This is a puerile argument, of course, quite unworthy of the intelligent scientists who use it. There are at best only a few arrangements that will contain the organized information necessary for reproduction, compared to "zillions" of arrangements with no information at all. This fact is beautifully illustrated in our text. Why should Joseph's brothers "marvel" when they were seated in chronological order of birth by a host who (presumably) was entirely unaware of that order? The reason why they marveled was because there are almost 40 million different ways (calculated by multiplying all the numbers, one through eleven, together) in which the eleven brothers could have been seated! It seemingly couldn't happen by chance. Maybe an evolutionist would not "marvel" that this unique seating arrangement happened by chance, since he somehow believes that far more intricately organized arrangements than this happened by chance to produce our universe and its array of complex systems. Anyone else, however, would immediately have realized this, and so the brothers of Joseph "marvelled one at another." So also, when we behold the wonders of design in the creation, we should "lift up |our| eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things" (Isaiah 40:26). HMM