Genesis 37:10

Summary

Joseph recounts his second dream to his father and brothers; his father rebukes him and questions the dream's meaning, asking rhetorically whether the whole family — father, mother, and brothers — will actually come to bow down to Joseph on the ground.

Key words

• yesapper ("he recounted", H5608A) — piel narrative form, giving the verb an intensive nuance ("to recount, tell in detail") rather than the simple qal "to say."
• yig'ar ("he rebuked", H1605) — qal narrative form, the standard past-tense storytelling verb, here marking the father's negative reaction.
• bo navo ("really come... will we come", H0935G, H0935G) — infinitive absolute followed by imperfect of the same root, a construction that doubles the verb "to come" for emphasis, reinforced by the interrogative particle ha (H9008).
• lehishtachavot ("to bow down", H7812) — hishtaphel infinitive, a verb stem specific to the act of prostration, used here in the infinitive construct with le- ("to bow down").
• artzah ("[the] ground", H0776H + directional he H9011) — the noun "ground/land" with a directional suffix, indicating motion "toward the ground," i.e., "to the ground."

What the text says

The verse opens with two narrative-vav verbs, yesapper ("he recounted") and yig'ar ("he rebuked"), which chain the sequence of events: Joseph tells the dream, then his father reacts. The object of the telling is marked by two parallel prepositional phrases, 'el 'aviv ("to his father") and ve'el 'echav ("and to his brothers"), each noun in construct form with a pronominal suffix "his."

The father's rebuke is followed by direct speech introduced by va-yomer lo ("and he said to him"). The question about the dream uses the interrogative mah ("what?") with the definite article on hachalom hazzeh ("this dream"), and the relative particle 'asher introduces the qualifying clause "which you have dreamed" (chalamta, qal perfect, indicating a completed past action).

The second question is built on the doubled root bo navo — an infinitive absolute plus a matching imperfect verb of H0935G ("to come") — a grammatical structure that intensifies the question, something like "will we really come?" This is followed by the subjects 'ani ("I"), ve'immekha ("and your mother"), and ve'achekha ("and your brothers"), each joined by ve- ("and"). The purpose of their coming is expressed by the infinitive lehishtachavot ("to bow down"), a form built on the hishtaphel stem specific to prostration, followed by lekha ("to you") and artzah, where the directional he suffix indicates movement toward the ground.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew names three distinct familial roles bowing down — "I" (father), "your mother," "your brothers" — matching BSB and RV1909/SBLIBRE. The Vulgate similarly lists "ego... mater tua... fratres tui." The LXX's ἀρά γε ἐλθόντες ἐλευσόμεθα mirrors the Hebrew's doubled verb structure (bo navo) with a participle plus finite verb construction (ἐλθόντες ἐλευσόμεθα), preserving the emphatic sense of the Hebrew infinitive absolute + imperfect pairing.