The surprise at finding his money may require a verb expressing more feeling than he said to his brothers. For example, it may be more appropriate for this context to say “he shouted” or “he exclaimed.” In some translations this is expressed as an exclamation at the beginning of the speech; for example, “Look here!”

My money has been put back: this passive construction may need to be restructured to say, for example, “Someone has put my money back in my sack!”

Here it is in the mouth of my sack!: that is, “… at the top of my sack.”

At this is supplied by Revised Standard Version. We may need to say, for example, “When they saw it” or “When they saw the money.”

Their hearts failed them is literally “their hearts sank.” In some languages other figurative expressions are “their livers turned cold,” “their stomachs dropped,” or “their insides dried up.”

They turned trembling to one another: that is, “they were frightened and asked one another.”

What is this that God has done to us?: this question recalls verse 21, in which the brothers tell each other that they are being paid back for the evil they had done to Joseph. They assume that God has done this to them, and that it is related to the punishment they deserve. Us is the inclusive pronoun in this context.

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 .