Genesis 43:31-33 New English Translation

³¹Then he washed his face and came out. With composure he said,^[a] “Set out the food.” ³²They set a place for him, a separate place for his brothers,^[b] and another for the Egyptians who were eating with him. (The Egyptians are not able to eat with Hebrews, for the Egyptians think it is disgusting^[c] to do so.)^[d] ³³They sat before him, arranged by order of birth, beginning with the firstborn and ending with the youngest.^[e] The men looked at each other in astonishment.^[f]

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Footnotes

Genesis 43:31 tn Heb “and he controlled himself and said.”
Genesis 43:32 tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s brothers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Genesis 43:32 tn Or “disgraceful.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (toʿevah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 46:34 and Exod 8:22.
Genesis 43:32 tn Heb “and they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, for the Egyptians are not able to eat food with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination for the Egyptians.” The imperfect verbal form in the explanatory clause is taken as habitual in force, indicating a practice that was still in effect in the narrator’s time.sn That the Egyptians found eating with foreigners disgusting is well-attested in extra-biblical literature by writers like Herodotus, Diodorus, and Strabo.
Genesis 43:33 tn Heb “the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth.”
Genesis 43:33 sn The brothers’ astonishment indicates that Joseph arranged them in this way. They were astonished because there was no way, as far as they were concerned, that Joseph could have known the order of their birth.

New English Translation (NET)