Genesis 37:23
וַֽיְהִי כַּֽאֲשֶׁר־בָּא יוֹסֵף אֶל־אֶחָיו וַיַּפְשִׁיטוּ אֶת־יוֹסֵף אֶת־כֻּתָּנְתּוֹ אֶת־כְּתֹנֶת הַפַּסִּים אֲשֶׁר עָלָֽיו׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַֽיְהִ֕י כַּֽאֲשֶׁר־בָּ֥א יוֹסֵ֖ף אֶל־אֶחָ֑יו וַיַּפְשִׁ֤יטוּ אֶת־יוֹסֵף֙ אֶת־כֻּתָּנְתּ֔וֹ אֶת־כְּתֹ֥נֶת הַפַּסִּ֖ים אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָלָֽיו׃
ἐγένετο δὲ ἡνίκα ἦλθεν ἸωσὴΦ πρὸς τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ, ἐξέδυσαν τὸν Ἰωσὴφ τὸν χιτῶνα τὸν ποικίλον τὸν περὶ αὐτόν,
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Confestim igitur ut pervenit ad fratres suos, nudaverunt eum tunica talari et polymita:
Cuando José llegó a donde estaban sus hermanos, ellos le quitaron la túnica de muchos colores que llevaba puesta;
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y sucedió que, cuando llegó José á sus hermanos, ellos hicieron desnudar á José su ropa, la ropa de colores que tenía sobre sí;
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe — the robe of many colors he was wearing—
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates the moment Joseph reaches his brothers and they immediately strip him of his garment, identified twice — first as "his tunic," then more specifically as the ketonet ha-passim. The action is presented as an instant, connected event using Hebrew's narrative sequencing.
Key words
- bo ("he came", H0935G) — qal perfect, marking the completed arrival of Joseph that triggers the following action.
- yafshitu ("they stripped", H6584) — hiphil narrative form; the causative stem indicates the brothers actively caused the stripping, not that it happened to Joseph passively.
- ketonet ("tunic", H3801) — feminine singular construct noun, appearing twice (as kutanto, "his tunic," and again as ketonet ha-passim), the repetition creating an appositional restatement of the same garment.
- passim ("palms and soles", H6446) — masculine plural noun modifying ketonet through the construct chain, describing the garment by reference to its extremities (hands/feet) rather than by color.
- 'asher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause "which was on him," anchoring the garment description to Joseph's body.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative formula va-yehi ka'asher ("and it happened when..."), setting up a temporal clause: as soon as Joseph came to his brothers (bo... 'el-'echav), the main action follows immediately with the narrative va-yafshitu ("and they stripped"). The verb is hiphil, a causative stem, underscoring that the stripping was an act performed upon Joseph by his brothers' will.
The object of the stripping is expressed through a doubled construction: 'et-Yosef ("Joseph" himself) is named first, then two further accusative phrases follow, each introduced by the object marker 'et — kutanto ("his tunic") and ketonet ha-passim ("the tunic of passim"). This repetition is appositional: the second phrase specifies and renames the same garment already mentioned as "his tunic." The garment is further qualified by the relative clause 'asher 'alav ("which was on him"), anchoring it physically to Joseph's body at the moment of removal.
The noun passim (H6446) glosses literally to "palms and soles," suggesting the garment was described by its reach — extending to hands and feet — rather than explicitly by color in the Hebrew text itself.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew ketonet ha-passim is rendered by the LXX as χιτῶνα τὸν ποικίλον ("the multicolored/varied tunic") and by the Vulgate as tunica talari et polymita ("an ankle-length and many-colored tunic"). Both Greek and Latin traditions interpret the garment's distinguishing feature as its coloring or patterning, while the Hebrew term passim itself, according to the provided gloss, refers to "palms and soles," describing the garment's extent rather than its color.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.