Spoke to them these words: these words are the ones Joseph told the steward. We may translate, for example, “He said to them what Joseph had told him to say.”

The brothers, who left the city feeling secure, are abruptly plunged into despair, hearing that they are accused of theft.

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 .