Genesis 40:19

Summary

Joseph tells the chief baker that within three days Pharaoh will "lift up" his head from him and hang him on a tree, after which birds will eat his flesh. The verse is the negative counterpart to the cupbearer's interpretation, using the same idiom nasa rosh but with an opposite, fatal outcome.

Key words

• yissa' ("he will lift up", H5375) — qal imperfect of the same verb used for the cupbearer's restoration in the preceding verses (where "lift up your head" meant reinstatement); here it is followed by me'aleikha ("from upon you"), turning the idiom into a description of removing the head from the body rather than raising someone in status.
• rosh'kha ("your head", H7218) — construct noun with 2nd person masculine suffix, the direct object marked by 'et (H0853), naming the body part that will be lifted/removed.
• talah ("he will hang", H8518) — qal sequential perfect, continuing the narrative chain begun by yissa'; it reports the next event in Pharaoh's future action against the baker.
• 'etz ("a tree", H6086) — masculine singular noun, the object on which the hanging occurs, following the preposition 'al ("on", H5921A).
• bisar'kha ("your flesh", H1320) — construct noun with 2nd person suffix, the direct object of 'akhal ("it will eat", H0398), naming what the bird(s) will consume.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the temporal phrase be'od shelosheth yamim ("in yet three days"), matching the parallel dream-interpretation formula given to the cupbearer in the preceding verses. The main clause, yissa' Par'oh 'et-rosh'kha me'aleikha ("Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you"), uses the identical verb nasa ("to lift up") that appeared earlier for the cupbearer's fate, but the addition of me'aleikha ("from upon you") shifts its sense from elevation-in-status to physical removal of the head. This wordplay is only visible in the Hebrew, since the same root verb produces two opposite meanings depending on the accompanying preposition.

Two sequential perfect verbs, talah ("he will hang", H8518) and 'akhal ("it will eat", H0398), continue the narrative chain introduced by the initial imperfect, describing the events that follow in sequence: hanging on 'etz ("a tree", H6086) and the eating of besar'kha ("your flesh", H1320) by ha'of ("the bird[s]", H5775). The repeated phrase me'aleikha ("from upon you") appears twice in the verse, framing both the removal of the head and the removal of the flesh as actions taken "from upon" the baker's body.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ha'of ("the bird[s]", H5775) as "τὰ ὄρνεα τοῦ οὐρανοῦ" ("the birds of heaven/sky"), adding a genitive not present in the Hebrew noun itself. The Vulgate renders talah ("he will hang", H8518) with "suspendet te in cruce" ("he will hang you on a cross"), where 'etz ("a tree", H6086) becomes "cruce" ("cross") rather than a more generic "tree" or "wood." The Vulgate also renders 'akhal ("it will eat", H0398) as "lacerabunt" ("they will tear/mangle"), a more violent verb than the Hebrew's simple "eat."