Genesis 40:15

Summary

Joseph explains his circumstances to the cupbearer: he states that he was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews, and that he has done nothing here to deserve being placed in the pit. The verse uses two parallel clauses introduced by ki ("for"/"that"), each giving a reason for his situation.

Key words

• gunov ("certainly stolen", H1589) — infinitive absolute in the pual (intensive passive) stem, placed before the finite verb to reinforce the action expressed by the following verb.
• gunnavti ("I was stolen", H1589) — pual perfect, first person; the passive intensive form indicates that the action was done to Joseph by others, without naming the agent.
• me'erets ha'ivrim ("from the land of the Hebrews", H0776G + H9009 + H5680) — construct phrase specifying the geographic/ethnic origin from which Joseph was taken.
• me'umah ("anything", H3972) — feminine singular noun functioning as the object of negation, paired with lo ("not", H3808) to state total absence of wrongdoing.
• samu oti bavor ("they put me in the pit", H7760H + H0853 + H0953A) — qal perfect third person plural verb with object marker and suffix, describing an action performed by unspecified others upon Joseph.

What the text says

The verse is built on two clauses each introduced by ki (H3588A), a particle that can function as "for" or "that" depending on context. The first clause, ki gunov gunnavti me'erets ha'ivrim, uses the construction of infinitive absolute plus finite verb in the same root, both in the pual stem — a grammatical pattern in Biblical Hebrew that intensifies or emphasizes the verbal action. Here the doubling underscores the passive nature of what happened to Joseph: something was done to him, not by him, and no agent is named in the Hebrew.

Between the two ki clauses, the text inserts vegam poh lo asiti me'umah ("and also here I have not done anything"), a qal perfect first-person statement that shifts to active voice, contrasting with the passive framing of the surrounding clauses. This structure creates a chiastic sense: passive action against Joseph (being stolen), active statement of Joseph's innocence, then passive action against Joseph again (being put in the pit) in the second ki clause, ki samu oti bavor. The verb sam (from H7760H) is qal perfect third-person plural, again leaving the subject unspecified ("they"), consistent with the earlier passive/impersonal framing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first clause with κλοπῇ ἐκλάπην ("by theft I was stolen"), a dative-of-manner construction that mirrors the Hebrew infinitive absolute + finite verb pattern used for emphasis. The Vulgate uses furto sublatus sum ("I was taken away by theft"), similarly preserving the passive sense. In the final clause, the Vulgate adds innocens ("innocent"), a word with no direct equivalent among the words listed in the Hebrew text, where the innocence is instead conveyed through the earlier negated statement lo asiti me'umah. The LXX and Vulgate both replace the Hebrew bavor ("in the pit", H0953A) with λάκκον / lacum ("pit"/"cistern"), consistent with the Hebrew term.