en_tn/gen/44/16.md

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# What can we say to my master? What can we speak? Or how can we justify ourselves?
All 3 questions mean basically the same thing. They use these questions to emphasize that there is nothing they can say to explain what happened. Alternate translation: "We have nothing to say, my master. We cannot speak anything of value. We cannot justify ourselves." (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-parallelism]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-rquestion]])
# What can we say to my master ... my master's slaves
Here "my master" refers to Joseph. This is a formal way of speaking to someone with greater authority. It can be stated in second person. Alternate translation: "What can we say to you ... your slaves" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-123person]])
# God has found out the iniquity of your servants
Here "found out" does not mean God just found out what the brothers did. It means God is now punishing them for what they did. Alternate translation: "God is punishing us for our past sins"
# the iniquity of your servants
The brothers refer to themselves as "your servants." This is a formal way of speaking to someone with greater authority. It can be stated in first person. Alternate translation: "our iniquity" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-123person]])
# he also in whose hand the cup was found
Here "hand" stands for the whole person. Also, "was found" can be stated in active form. Alternate translation: "the one who had your cup" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-synecdoche]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/jit/figs-activepassive]])