Genesis 44:19

 Genesis 44:19

My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

a. NASB 1995: “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’  [New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB1995) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.]

b. NKJV: “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’  [Scripture quotations marked "NKJV" are taken from the New King James Version®, Copyright© 1982, Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]

c. Amplified Bible: “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’  [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: [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’  [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. “My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?”

a. [My] lord [Strong: 113 ʼâdôwn, aw-done'; or (shortened) אָדֹן ʼâdôn; from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine):—lord, master, owner.]

b. asked [Strong: 7592 shâʼal, shaw-al'; or שָׁאֵל shâʼêl; a primitive root; to inquire; by implication, to request; by extension, to demand:—ask (counsel, on), beg, borrow, lay to charge, consult, demand, desire, × earnestly, enquire, greet, obtain leave, lend, pray, request, require, salute, × straitly, × surely, wish.]

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. [his] servants [Strong: 5650 ʻebed, eh'-bed; from H5647; a servant:—× bondage, bondman, (bond-) servant, (man-) servant.]

e. saying [Strong: 559 ʼâmar, aw-mar'; a primitive root; to say (used with great latitude):—answer, appoint, avouch, bid, boast self, call, certify, challenge, charge, (at the, give) command(-ment), commune, consider, declare, demand, × desire, determine, × expressly, × indeed, × intend, name, × plainly, promise, publish, report, require, say, speak (against, of), × still, × suppose, talk, tell, term, × that is, × think, use (speech), utter, × verily, × yet.]

f. Have [ye] [Strong:3426 yêsh, yaysh; perhaps from an unused root meaning to stand out, or exist; entity; used adverbially or as a copula for the substantive verb (H1961); there is or are (or any other form of the verb to be, as may suit the connection):—(there) are, (he, it, shall, there, there may, there shall, there should) be, thou do, had, hast, (which) hath, (I, shalt, that) have, (he, it, there) is, substance, it (there) was, (there) were, ye will, thou wilt, wouldest.]

g. [a] father [Strong: 1 ʼâb, awb; a primitive word; father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application:—chief, (fore-) father(-less), × patrimony, principal.]

h. or [Strong: 176 ʼôw, o; presumed to be the 'constructive' or genitival form of אַו ʼav ; short for H185; desire (and so probably in Proverbs 31:4); hence (by way of alternative) or, also if:—also, and, either, if, at the least, × nor, or, otherwise, then, whether.]

i. [a] brother [Strong: 251 ʼâch, awkh; a primitive word; a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance [like H1]):—another, brother(-ly); kindred, like, other.]

1). 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. Some of the brothers hated him enough to kill him.

a). Genesis 37:4-11 [Classic Amplified] But when his brothers saw that their father loved [Joseph] more than all of his brothers, they hated him and could not say, Peace [in friendly greeting] to him or speak peaceably to him.

37:5 Now Joseph had a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him still more.

37:6 And he said to them, Listen now and hear, I pray you, this dream that I have dreamed:

37:7 We [brothers] were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright, and behold, your sheaves stood round about my sheaf and bowed down!

37:8 His brothers said to him, Shall you indeed reign over us? Or are you going to have us as your subjects and dominate us? And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for what he said.

37:9 But Joseph dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers [also]. He said, See here, I have dreamed again, and behold, [this time not only] eleven stars [but also] the sun and the moon bowed down and did reverence to me!

37:10 And he told it to his father [as well as] his brethren. But his father rebuked him and said to him, What is the meaning of this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow down ourselves to the earth and do homage to you?

37:11 Joseph’s brothers envied him and were jealous of him, but his father observed the saying and pondered over it.

b). Genesis 37:18 And when they saw him far off, even before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.