Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageWhen some Midianite traders came by, Joseph was pulled up out of the pit and sold to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And so Joseph was taken down to Egypt.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GThen Midyanite merchants passed by. They drew Yosef up out of the pit and sold him to the Yishma'elim for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Yosef down to Mitzrayim.
KJV
King James VersionThen there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleSo when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Footnotes
The subject of "drew him up" and "sold him" is deliberately ambiguous in Hebrew — it is unclear whether the brothers or the passing Midyanim performed each act, a grammatical openness that has generated centuries of interpretive debate. More significant is the price: כֶּסֶף עֶשְׂרִים (esrim keseph, "twenty pieces of silver") is precisely the redemption value Leviticus 27:5 sets for a male between five and twenty years of age — Yosef is seventeen. The narrator appears to be signalling that Yosef's ransom price is exactly right, even as he is unjustly sold, foreshadowing the One who would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver.
