complete verse (Genesis 42:10)

Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 42:10:

  • Kankanaey: “‘No indeed sir,’ they said. ‘We consider ourselves (lit. our bodies) as your (sing.) slaves and it is emphatically true that our (excl.) purpose only in coming here was that we (excl.) buy what we (excl.) will eat.” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
  • Newari: “They said — ‘No, it’s not like that. Your servants have come to buy grain.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
  • Hiligaynon: “They replied, ‘No, sir! We (excl.) (are) not spies. We (excl.) came here in-order to buy food.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
  • English: “One of them replied, ‘No, sir! We have come to buy grain.” (Source: Translation for Translators)

Translation commentary on Genesis 42:10

No, my lord, but to buy food have your servants come: the brothers deny being spies. Some languages will need to state the negative answer more fully as, for example, “Sir, we are not spies.” They refer to themselves as your servants or “your slaves” in conversation with this powerful Egyptian ruler before them.

But to buy: that is, “Sir, we have not come to spy on your country but to buy food.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .