The brothers begin their reply by repeating that they are brothers. They now volunteer more information about their family.

We … are twelve brothers: the Hebrew does not have an equivalent to English “are” or “were” in this sentence. It says “Your servants twelve brothers.” Note Revised Standard Version has are, and Good News Translation “were.” New English Bible, which has “are,” has been revised by Revised English Bible to “were.” The context favors the use of the past tense here, and this is followed by most modern translations.

The brothers must give an account for the two who are not present. They explain Benjamin’s absence first.

And behold, the youngest is … with our father: the particle behold (Hebrew hinneh) functions in this context to focus attention on a most critical piece of information; however, most translators do not attempt to represent it.

And one is no more: the sense of this is that one brother is dead, as stated in Good News Translation and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, although most translations do not say so directly. For example, Bible en français courant and New English Bible say “has disappeared,” Revised English Bible “is lost,” Biblia Dios Habla Hoy “is no longer with us.”

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 .