Then he turned away from them and wept: turned away probably means that he removed himself far enough so they could not see him cry. We may translate, for example, “he left them” or “he went away from them.” Some translations say “he went outside and cried.”

It is apparent that the conversation going on among the brothers comes to Joseph as a confession of the evil they had done to him, even though he had not asked for this confession. He is moved to tears to hear it, but he is not ready to tell them who he really is until he sees his younger brother.

Returned to them and spoke to them: Anchor Bible says that the Hebrew verb for returned is used adverbially here, so that the expression as a whole has the sense of “When he was able to face them again.” Accordingly Anchor Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, New American Bible, Biblia Dios Habla Hoy all translate in words equivalent to “When he was able to speak again….” This is recommended to translators. A common translation is “When he felt better he came inside and….”

He took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes: when Joseph spoke again to them he ordered Simeon, Reuben’s younger brother, to be tied up while the rest looked on. This is rendered, for example, as “he chose Simeon to stay, and his men tied him up” or “he told his servants to take Simeon and tie him up.”

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 .