Genesis 37:31

Summary

The verse narrates three sequential actions performed by an unspecified group (Joseph's brothers, per context): they took Joseph's garment, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the garment in its blood.

Key words

• va-yiqchu ("and they took", H3947) — qal narrative verb (vav-consecutive), marking the first action in the sequence, third person masculine plural.
• ketonet ("long garment of", H3801) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking it to Yosef; this is the same garment later re-mentioned with the definite article.
• va-yishchatu ("and they slaughtered", H7819) — second qal narrative verb, continuing the chain of actions with vav-consecutive.
• se'ir 'izzim ("male goat of goats", H8163 + H5795) — construct phrase, literally "a male-goat of goats," specifying the animal type.
• va-yitbelu ("and they dipped", H2881) — third qal narrative verb, completing the action sequence; note the object here is ha-kutonet ("the garment", H3801) with the definite article ha (H9009), rather than the construct form used in word 4.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of three narrative verbs joined by the vav-consecutive (va, H9001): va-yiqchu ("and they took"), va-yishchatu ("and they slaughtered"), and va-yitbelu ("and they dipped"). This grammatical structure presents the actions as a sequential, connected series — each event following directly from the previous one — which is a standard feature of Biblical Hebrew narrative prose.

A notable grammatical detail is the shift in how the garment (ketonet, H3801) is referenced. In its first occurrence (word 4), it appears in construct form, ketonet Yosef ("the garment of Joseph"), directly bound to the proper noun Yosef (H3130). In its second occurrence (word 14), the same noun appears as ha-kutonet ("the garment"), now marked with the definite article ha (H9009) instead of the construct relationship — since the garment has already been identified, the text uses the article to refer back to it as "the [aforementioned] garment" rather than repeating "of Joseph."

The direct object marker 'et (H0853, words 3 and 12) appears before both instances of ketonet/ha-kutonet, marking the grammatical direct object of yiqchu and yitbelu respectively, though it is not itself translated. The animal is specified through the construct phrase se'ir 'izzim (H8163 + H5795), literally "male-goat of goats," a common Hebrew way of specifying species within a genus.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) adds a relative clause not present in the Hebrew: "in sanguine hædi, quem occiderant" ("in the blood of the goat, which they had killed"), restructuring the three-verb sequence into a subordinate construction. The Hebrew and LXXSWETE preserve the paratactic chain of three coordinated actions (took / slaughtered / dipped), while the Vulgate's syntax subordinates the slaughtering into a relative clause modifying "blood."