The word Then is to be understood as “In the course of time” (Good News Translation) and not as a sudden or unexpected event. Other ways of expressing this are “In time” (John I. Durham), “As the years passed,” or even “Eventually.” Since Benjamin, Joseph’s only younger brother, is included, all his brothers may be expressed idiomatically in a number of languages; for example, “elders and youngers” or “elder and younger siblings.” All that generation probably included all adults who lived at the same time as Joseph and his brothers. In many languages the phrase all that generation will be rendered as “all the people living at that time.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .