The man, the lord of the land: this is the same expression as in verse 30.

By this I shall know …: see verse 15. For many languages it is not natural to use a quote within a quote. For example, it may be necessary to shift to third person: “He said he would find out if we were being honest….”

Take grain for the famine of your households: the word grain does not occur in the Hebrew text but is in most of the ancient versions. Hebrew Old Testament Text Project says the Hebrew can be understood as “Take [what is needed for] the hunger of your families,” that is, “Take what your families are hungry for.”

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 .