Genesis 39:5

Summary

The verse states that from the time Potiphar appointed Joseph over his household and all his possessions, Yehovah blessed the Egyptian's household because of Joseph. The blessing of Yehovah extended to everything Potiphar owned, both in the house and in the field.

Key words

• hifKid ("he appointed", H6485J) — hiphil perfect, causative form indicating Potiphar caused Joseph to be placed in a position of authority; the completed aspect marks this as the triggering event for what follows.
• yVarekh ("he blessed", H1288) — piel narrative form of the verb, intensive stem conveying a strong or effective blessing; the narrative vav ties this action directly to the preceding appointment as its consequence.
• birKat ("blessing of", H1293) — feminine singular construct noun, grammatically binding "blessing" to Yehovah in the following word, forming the phrase "blessing of Yehovah" as the subject of the second clause.
• biGlal ("on account of", H1558) — masculine singular construct noun functioning as a causal preposition, explicitly marking Joseph as the reason (not merely the occasion) for the blessing.
• yesh-lo ("there [belonged] to him", H3426 + H9005 + H9033) — this construction (used twice, in vv. 5a and 5c) expresses possession idiomatically; literally "there is to him," meaning "he had" or "what belonged to him."

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel narrative clauses joined by va ("and", H9001), each introduced by the verb yHi ("it was", H1961) in its narrative form. The first clause establishes a temporal frame: "from then when he appointed him" (meAz hifKid), locating the blessing's onset at the moment of Joseph's appointment. The phrase beveiTo ("in his household") and 'al kol 'aSher yesh-lo ("over all that belonged to him") together define the scope of Joseph's authority — both the house and its possessions.

The second clause shifts subject to Yehovah, who performs the action yVarekh ("he blessed") upon 'et-beit hamMitzri ("the household of the Egyptian"). The causal phrase biGlal Yosef ("on account of Joseph") is placed at the end of the clause, giving grammatical weight to Joseph as the specified cause of the blessing rather than an incidental detail.

The final clause repeats the construction yHi birKat Yehovah ("the blessing of Yehovah was") and reuses the possessive idiom 'aSher yesh-lo to specify that the blessing covered everything Potiphar owned. The closing pair babBayit uvasSadeh ("in the house and in the field") uses two paired nouns with the article, forming a merism that spans domestic and outdoor property.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders biGlal Yosef ("on account of Joseph", H1558) with διὰ Ἰωσήφ ("through/because of Joseph"), matching the causal sense. However, the LXX text given shows εὐλογία Τυρίου ("blessing of Tyrios"), where the Hebrew has birKat Yehovah ("blessing of Yehovah", H3068G) — a divergence in the divine name reflected in this particular LXX transmission. The Vulgate adds multiplicavit ("he multiplied"), an interpretive expansion not present as a separate verb in the Hebrew clause structure, which uses only yHi ("it was") to describe the blessing's presence rather than an increase.