Yusuf 17: They said; “Oh our father, we went away for a race and had left Joseph with our belongings. (Unfortunately) a wolf ate him. But even if we were to tell you the truth, you will not believe us.”

A. Metin Saruhan · 13 June 2017 · Yusuf

Translation

They said; “Oh our father, we went away for a race and had left Joseph with our belongings. (Unfortunately) a wolf ate him. But even if we were to tell you the truth, you will not believe us.”

Tafsir

In previous Verses, we have shown this Verse as an example of how Hadrat Ya'qub (peace be upon him) guided his children in the lie they would invent. They were confronted by their sons with the same lie. The fact that they said that Joseph was eaten by wolves shows that they would not believe them. Indeed, we will see in the following verses that he mocked his sons by taunting them.

Joseph's brothers, who still could not make sense of all these events, said, "Even if we tell the truth, you will not believe us," in order to convince their father of the trap they had set, in order to strengthen the truth of the event and the lie they had invented.

What is said in the video

O our father, they said, we went off to race and left Joseph by our belongings. Sadly, the wolf ate him; but even if we were truthful, you would not believe us, they were saying. Well, of course you wouldn't believe. Who is going to believe a lie? That Jacob (peace be upon him) pointed his children to the lie they would (?), we had shown with the earlier verses, giving this verse as an example. His sons came before him with that very lie. Their saying the wolf ate Joseph shows that Jacob (peace be upon him) was not going to believe them. Indeed, in the verses below we will see that he taunted his sons mockingly.

Their father Jacob (peace be upon him) will taunt his sons in the following verses. Unable even now to draw any meaning from so many events, Joseph's brothers, to make their father believe the trap they set, say: even if we spoke the truth, you would not believe us; this is to strengthen the event and the truth of the lie they made up.