Then Joseph made haste: Joseph’s haste is to get away from the brothers so that he could release his pent-up emotions.

His heart yearned for his brother is literally “his compassion grew hot for his brother.” New Revised Standard Version has revised Revised Standard Version to say “he was overcome with affection.” Revised English Bible has “Joseph, suddenly overcome by his feeling for his brother, ….” See Good News Translation. In some languages other figurative expressions are used; for example, “Joseph’s innermost became very heavy” or “Joseph’s liver began to shake.”

He sought a place to weep: the word place does not occur in the Hebrew, and a better translation is as in New Revised Standard Version, “He was about to weep.”

He entered his chamber and wept there: chamber refers to an inner room, of which there were many in houses like Joseph’s. New Revised Standard Version calls it “a private room.”

A model translation of verse 30 is:

• When Joseph had said that, he was so overcome by feelings for his younger brother that he was about to cry. So he quickly left and went into another room to cry.

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 .