Genesis 37:36

Summary

The verse states that "the Medanites" sold Joseph into Egypt to Potiphar, described through two construct phrases as an official of Pharaoh and commander of the guard. The sentence closes the narrative unit begun with Joseph's brothers' actions, shifting the scene to Egypt.

Key words

• ha-medanim ("the Medanites", H4092) — definite article + gentilic plural noun, naming the group who carried out the sale.
• makheru ("they sold", H4376) — Qal perfect 3rd person plural, indicating a completed action performed by the subject.
• 'oto ("him", H0853+H9033) — direct object marker with pronominal suffix, marking Joseph (referenced only by pronoun here) as the one sold.
• seris ("official/eunuch of", H5631) — masculine singular construct noun, linking Potiphar to Pharaoh in a possessive-type relationship ("official of Pharaoh").
• sar ha-tabbachim ("commander of the guards/bodyguards", H8269 + H2876) — construct chain naming Potiphar's specific function, "commander" governing the definite plural noun "the guards."

What the text says

The clause opens with the subject ha-medanim ("the Medanites") followed immediately by the perfect verb makheru ("they sold"), a standard Hebrew verb-second or subject-first order that here foregrounds the agent of the sale. The object is marked not by a noun but by the particle 'et with a suffixed pronoun ('oto, "him"), meaning Joseph's name does not appear in this verse — he is referred to only anaphorically, continuing from earlier narration. Two prepositional phrases stack in sequence: 'el-mitzrayim ("into Egypt") specifies the destination of the sale, and le-Potiphar ("to Potiphar") specifies the buyer, showing Hebrew's tendency to add locative and dative information progressively rather than in a single compound phrase.

Potiphar is then identified through two back-to-back construct phrases without any connecting conjunction: seris Par'oh ("official of Pharaoh") and sar ha-tabbachim ("commander of the guards"). This apposition attaches two administrative titles directly to the name, a common Hebrew technique for building descriptive identification without subordinate clauses.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text reads ha-medanim ("the Medanites", H4092), but all cited versions (Vulgate Madianitæ, RV1909 "Midianitas", BSB "Midianites", SBLIBRE "madianitas") render this as "Midianites," a distinct gentilic in Hebrew (from a different root) used elsewhere in the same chapter (e.g., v. 28). The versions do not preserve the distinct spelling of medanim found in this verse.

Additionally, seris (H5631, "official" or literally "eunuch") is rendered as "eunucho" in the Vulgate but as "officer"/"funcionario" in BSB and SBLIBRE, reflecting different semantic choices for the same Hebrew term.