Genesis 37:35
וַיָּקֻמוּ כָל־בָּנָיו וְכָל־בְּנֹתָיו לְנַחֲמוֹ וַיְמָאֵן לְהִתְנַחֵם וַיֹּאמֶר כִּֽי־אֵרֵד אֶל־בְּנִי אָבֵל שְׁאֹלָה וַיֵּבְךְּ אֹתוֹ אָבִֽיו׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיָּקֻמוּ֩ כָל־בָּנָ֨יו וְכָל־בְּנֹתָ֜יו לְנַחֲמ֗וֹ וַיְמָאֵן֙ לְהִתְנַחֵ֔ם וַיֹּ֕אמֶר כִּֽי־אֵרֵ֧ד אֶל־בְּנִ֛י אָבֵ֖ל שְׁאֹ֑לָה וַיֵּ֥בְךְּ אֹת֖וֹ אָבִֽיו׃
συνήχθησαν δὲ πάντες οἱ υἱοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ αἱ θυγατέρες, καὶ ἦλθον παρακαλέσαι αὐτόν· καὶ οὐκ ἤθελεν παρακαλεῖσθαι, λέγων ὂτι Καταβήσομαι πρὸς τὸν υἱόν μου πενθῶν εἰς ᾅδου· καὶ ἔκλαυσεν αὐτὸν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ. οἱ δὲ Μαδιηναῖοι ἀπέδοντο τὸν ἸωσὴΦ εἰς Αἴγυπτον τῷ Πετρεφῇ σπάδοντι Φαραὼ ἀρχιμαγείρῳ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Congregatis autem cunctis liberis ejus ut lenirent dolorem patris, noluit consolationem accipere, sed ait: Descendam ad filium meum lugens in infernum. Et illo perseverante in fletu,
Todos sus hijos y sus hijas intentaron consolarlo, pero él no se dejó consolar, sino que decía: “Llorando bajaré al Seol para reunirme con mi hijo”. Y su padre siguió llorándolo.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y levantáronse todos sus hijos y todas sus hijas para consolarlo; mas él no quiso tomar consolación, y dijo: Porque yo tengo de descender á mi hijo enlutado hasta la sepultura. Y llorólo su padre.
All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “ No,” he said. “ I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Jacob's sons and daughters attempt to console him after believing Joseph is dead, but he refuses comfort, declaring he will go down mourning to Sheol ("Sheol", H7585) for his son. The verse closes by noting that his father continued weeping for him.
Key words
- yaqumu ("they arose", H6965B) — qal narrative form marking the next event in the story; the sons and daughters "rose up" as a collective action to approach Jacob.
- lenachamo ("to comfort him", H5162G) — piel infinitive construct with pronominal suffix; the piel stem gives an intensive/causative sense — the children act to actively produce comfort in him.
- yema'en ("he refused", H3985) — piel narrative verb; Jacob's response negates the children's attempt.
- lehitnachem ("to be comforted", H5162G) — same root as lenachamo, but here in the hithpael (reflexive) stem, meaning "to comfort oneself" or "to let oneself be comforted." The shift from piel to hithpael marks a grammatical contrast between others' action on him and his own reflexive response.
- she'olah ("to Sheol", H7585) — the noun Sheol with a directional he (H9011) suffixed, indicating motion "toward" or "into" that place.
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs: yaqumu ("they arose"), yema'en ("he refused"), yomer ("he said"), and yevek ("he wept for"), each advancing the sequence of events. The construct chains khol-banav ("all his sons") and ve-khol-benotav ("and all his daughters") group the children as a single subject performing the action of rising to comfort their father.
A notable grammatical feature is the use of the same root, nacham (H5162G), in two different verbal stems within adjacent clauses: first as a piel infinitive (lenachamo, "to comfort him") describing the children's active attempt, and then as a hithpael infinitive (lehitnachem, "to be comforted") describing what Jacob refuses. The piel/hithpael alternation marks a shift from an action done to the subject to an action reflexively undergone or permitted by the subject — Jacob does not merely reject their comforting act, but rejects entering into a state of being comforted.
The phrase 'el-beni 'avel she'olah ("to my son, mourning, to Sheol") places the adjective 'avel ("mourning", H0057) between "my son" and "Sheol," describing Jacob's own state as he anticipates going down. The directional he on she'olah grammatically marks the destination of the verb 'ered ("I will go down", H3381).
Differences between versions
The LXX opens with synēchthēsan ("were gathered together"), where the Hebrew has yaqumu ("they arose") — a different verb describing the children's initial action. The LXX and Vulgate both render she'olah with terms for the underworld (ᾅδου / infernum) rather than transliterating "Sheol" as some modern versions do. The Vulgate compresses the refusal and declaration into a single reported statement introduced by "sed ait," omitting an explicit rendering of the lehitnachem clause as a separate refusal-to-be-comforted idea, though the sense is preserved.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.