You have bereaved me of my children: for bereaved see the case of Rebekah in 27.45. In this context the sense of bereaved is “taken away from me” or “made me lose.” Jacob refers to two of his children by name, so in some languages where small numbers must be expressed rather than a general plural, the translation is “made me lose two of my children.” Good News Translation, however, takes the verb as having a present sense and makes Jacob say “… you want to make me lose all my children”; similarly New Jerusalem Bible says “you are robbing me of my children.”

Although in Hebrew Jacob does not express himself by using a question form, Good News Translation apparently feels that a rhetorical question better brings out the emotion that the old man feels as he speaks. Translators in other languages may wish to consider this approach and to use idiomatic ways of speaking that are appropriate to this situation. One example of a translation of this part of the verse is “What [angry]? Do you want me to lose all my children? Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now, do you want to take away Benjamin too?”

Joseph is no more: see verse 13.

All this has come upon me is literally “all these things are against me.” The Hebrew construction places the emphasis upon me in contrast to “you [plural].” As Driver says, “It is I, the father, who suffers, not you.” See Good News Translation.

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 .