Genesis 39:13

Summary

The verse narrates the moment Potiphar's wife realizes that Joseph has fled the house, leaving his garment behind in her hand. The Hebrew presents this as a chain of narrative events introduced by a temporal clause built on her act of seeing.

Key words

• va-yehi ("it was", H1961) — narrative vav + verb form that opens a new narrative unit, the standard Hebrew formula for "and it happened that..."
• kir'otah ("when she saw / in her seeing", H7200G) — infinitive construct with the 3rd feminine singular suffix -ah ("her"), forming a temporal clause: "in her seeing," i.e., "when she saw."
• 'azav ("he had left", H5800A) — perfect (completed) verb form, marking an action already accomplished prior to the moment of seeing; grammatically it sits inside a subordinate clause introduced by ki ("that", H3588A).
• beyadah ("in her hand", from yad, H3027G) — construct noun + 3rd feminine singular suffix, literally "in the hand of her," locating the garment physically.
• va-yanos ("and he fled", H5127) — narrative vav-consecutive form, continuing the sequence of completed actions: after leaving the garment, the subject fled.

What the text says

The sentence is built as a chain: the narrative opener va-yehi sets up a temporal clause with the infinitive kir'otah ("when she saw"), which itself governs a content clause introduced by ki ("that"): "that he had left his garment (bigdo) in her hand (beyadah)." The verb 'azav ("he had left") is in the perfect, showing an action completed before the main narrative moment. The clause then continues with a second narrative verb, va-yanos ("and he fled"), followed by ha-chutzah ("toward the outside"), using the directional -ah suffix (H9011) rather than a preposition, indicating movement toward an "outward" location. The grammatical subject of both 'azav and va-yanos is not restated by name in this verse but continues from the preceding narrative context (referring to the male figure who left and fled), while ki-r'otah and the possessive suffixes on beyadah refer to the female subject who perceives these events.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) diverges notably: instead of describing a flight ("he had fled outside"), it reads "et se esse contemptam" ("and that she herself was despised/scorned"), omitting the fleeing action found in the Hebrew and LXX. The LXX (SWETE) renders the single Hebrew noun bigdo ("his garment,” singular) as the plural τὰ ἱμάτια ("the garments"), and expands the single Hebrew verb-phrase va-yanos ha-chutzah ("he fled outside") into two verbs, ἔφυγεν καὶ ἐξῆλθεν ἔξω ("he fled and went out outside").