Genesis 37:30

Summary

Reuben returns to his brothers and announces that the boy (Joseph) is not in the pit, then asks in distress where he himself is now to go. The verse is built from two short direct-speech clauses that convey both the discovery and Reuben's reaction.

Key words

• va-yashov ("and he returned", H7725G) — qal narrative form (vav + prefix conjugation), marking the next event in the story sequence: Reuben's return to the group.
• echav ("his brothers", H0251G) — masculine plural noun in construct with the pronominal suffix -o ("his"), giving "brothers of him."
• ha-yeled ("the boy", H3206) — definite noun (article ha-, H9009) referring back to Joseph as previously mentioned.
• eynenu ("he is not", H0369) — the negative existential particle ayin with pronominal suffix "-nu" ("him"), literally "there-is-not-of-him," a standard Hebrew way to state absence without a separate verb "to be."
• ani ("I", H0589) — personal pronoun appearing twice in the clause va'ani anah ani-va, first as subject marker and again attached to the participle, producing emphatic repetition.

What the text says

The verse contains two narrative verbs, va-yashov ("and he returned", H7725G) and va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), both in the vav-consecutive form that simply advances the story: first Reuben returns, then he speaks. His speech itself has two parts. The first, ha-yeled eynenu ("the boy is-not-of-him"), uses the particle ayin (H0369) with a suffix rather than a full verb "to be," a common Hebrew construction for stating non-existence or absence — here, Joseph's absence from the pit.

The second part, va'ani anah ani-va ("and I, where am I going"), doubles the pronoun ani ("I", H0589): once as an independent subject pronoun introduced by "and," and once attached again to the participle va ("going", H0935G). This repetition of the first-person pronoun creates emphasis on Reuben himself, contrasting his own situation with the boy's disappearance. The participle va ("going") describes an ongoing or intended action ("the one going"), so the clause literally reads "and I, where [am] I going," expressing Reuben's uncertainty about what he will now do or where he can turn.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second clause as ἐγὼ δὲ ποῦ πορεύομαι ἔτι ("but I, where am I going still/yet"), adding "still" (ἔτι), an element not present in the Hebrew anah ani-va. The Vulgate's ait: Puer non comparet, et ego quo ibo? ("he said: the boy does not appear, and where shall I go?") shifts the verb tense to future ("shall I go") rather than the participial "going" of the Hebrew, and also adds "scissis vestibus" ("with torn garments") preceding this verse in the Vulgate's flow, an added narrative detail not reflected in the given Hebrew word list. The BSB translation "What am I going to do?" interprets anah ani-va ("where am I going") as a question about action rather than a literal question of direction, while RV1909 and SBLIBRE keep closer to a locational sense ("¿adónde iré yo?").