And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them: for discussion of kiss see 27.26 and 29.11. Wept upon them means that Joseph was crying when he kissed his brothers.

And after that his brothers talked with him: in verse 3 the brothers were dumbfounded by Joseph’s telling them who he really was. Since that time they have listened in a state of shock, but Joseph has shown how healing has taken place in their relations, and now they are sufficiently assured and renewed to be able to talk with him. This is well brought out by a translation that says “Only now did the brothers feel that they could talk with him.” We can well imagine that their talk was about news of births and deaths and other family events that had happened since Joseph disappeared.

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 .