21and when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each one’s money in the top of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it back with us.
Many languages distinguish between inclusive and exclusive first-person plural pronouns (“we”). (Click or tap here to see more details)
The inclusive “we” specifically includes the addressee (“you and I and possibly others”), while the exclusive “we” specifically excludes the addressee (“he/she/they and I, but not you”). This grammatical distinction is called “clusivity.” While Semitic languages such as Hebrew or most Indo-European languages such as Greek or English do not make that distinction, translators of languages with that distinction have to make a choice every time they encounter “we” or a form thereof (in English: “we,” “our,” or “us”).
For this verse, the Jarai and the Adamawa Fulfulde translation both use the exclusive pronoun, excluding Joseph.
Following are a number of back-translations as well as a sample translation for translators of Genesis 43:21:
Kankanaey: “Whereupon when we (excl.) stopped on the trail to overnight there, we (excl.) opened our sacks, and that’s when- we (excl.) -found-out that the exact money that we (excl.) had paid was repeatedly-placed-on-top (i.e. repeatedly = in more than one sack) in the sack of each-one. Here-now we (excl.) return-it to you (sing.),” (Source: Kankanaey Back Translation)
Newari: “In the evening, when we opened our sacks at the shelter where we were staying, we found silver in the mouths of the sacks. So we have brought it back.” (Source: Newari Back Translation)
Hiligaynon: “When we (excl.) were-going-home we (excl.) stopped for a night in a place. And there we (excl.) opened-up our (excl.) sacks and we (excl.) saw inside the very same-amount of money which we (excl.) paid for the food. Here (it is) actually, we (excl.) brought-(it) in-order to-give-(it)-back.” (Source: Hiligaynon Back Translation)
English: “But at the place where we stopped for the night as we were returning home, we opened our sacks. We were astonished to see that in the top of each of our sacks was the exact amount of silver that we had paid for the grain! So we have brought it back with us.” (Source: Translation for Translators)
When we came to the lodging place: that is, “when we left here and camped for the night” or “… spent the night on the way home.” For lodging place see 42.27.
Our money in full weight is literally “our silver in its weight.” The Hebrew word for weight is sheqal, which is the basis for the coin known as “shekel.” Before the use of minted coins, metal was weighed to determine value. They are saying that the silver that had been weighed out to pay for the grain was all there in the sack, every bit of it, instead of with the person to whom it was supposed to be given.
So we have brought it again with us is literally “We bring it in our hand.” The sense is “We are returning the money.”
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 .
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Like a number of other East Asian languages, Japanese uses a complex system of honorifics, i.e. a system where a number of different levels of politeness are expressed in language via words, word forms or grammatical constructs. These can range from addressing someone or referring to someone with contempt (very informal) to expressing the highest level of reference (as used in addressing or referring to God) or any number of levels in-between.
One way to do this is through the usage of lexical honorific forms, i.e., completely different words, as shown here in the widely-used Japanese Shinkaiyaku (新改訳) Bible of 2017. In these verses, mairu (参る), a humble form of kuru (来る) or “come” is used.
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