Genesis 40:7

וַיִּשְׁאַל אֶת־סְרִיסֵי פַרְעֹה אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ בְמִשְׁמַר בֵּית אֲדֹנָיו לֵאמֹר מַדּוּעַ פְּנֵיכֶם רָעִים הַיּֽוֹם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיִּשְׁאַ֞ל אֶת־סְרִיסֵ֣י פַרְעֹ֗ה אֲשֶׁ֨ר אִתּ֧וֹ בְמִשְׁמַ֛ר בֵּ֥ית אֲדֹנָ֖יו לֵאמֹ֑ר מַדּ֛וּעַ פְּנֵיכֶ֥ם רָעִ֖ים הַיּֽוֹם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἠρώτα τοὺς εὐνούχους Φαραώ, οἳ ἦσαν μετ’ αὐτοῦ ἐν τῆ φυλακῇ παρὰ τῷ κυρίῳ αὐτοῦ, λέγων Τί ὃτι τὰ πρόσωπα ὑμῶν σκυθρωπὰ σήμερον ;

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

sciscitatus est eos, dicens: Cur tristior est hodie solito facies vestra?

Spanish

Entonces les preguntó a los funcionarios del faraón que estaban presos con él en la casa de su amo: “¿Por qué se ven tan tristes hoy?”

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y él preguntó á aquellos eunucos de Faraón, que estaban con él en la prisión de la casa de su señor, diciendo: ¿ Por qué parecen hoy mal vuestros semblantes?

English

So he asked the officials of Pharaoh who were in custody with him in his master’s house, “ Why are your faces so downcast today?”

✦ What the text says

Summary

Joseph questions Pharaoh's officials, who are imprisoned together with him in the house of their master, asking why their faces appear troubled on that particular day. The verse sets up the dream-interpretation scene that follows.

Key words

yishal ("he asked", H7592) — qal narrative verb continuing the story sequence ("and then he asked").
serisei ("officials of", H5631) — masculine plural construct, grammatically linking to "Pharaoh" that follows (“officials of Pharaoh”).
adonav ("his master(s)", H0113) — masculine plural construct with singular suffix "his"; the plural form here refers to one individual master, a common honorific plural pattern in Biblical Hebrew.
peneikhem ("your faces", H6440/H9026) — masculine plural construct noun + 2nd person plural suffix, forming the subject of the question.
ra'im ("bad/sad", H7451A) — masculine plural adjective agreeing with "faces"; its root range covers "evil, bad, distressed."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on yishal ("he asked", H7592), marking the next event in the sequence: Joseph directs a question to serisei Far'oh ("officials of Pharaoh", H5631/H6547H). A relative clause, introduced by asher ("who", H0834A), specifies these officials as the ones "with him" (ito, H0854+H9033) bemishmar beit adonav — literally "in the custody of the house of his master(s)" (H4929, H1004B, H0113). The construct chain mishmar beit adonav stacks three nouns in succession ("custody-of house-of master-of-him"), a typical Hemhrew construct pattern producing "the custody-house of his master."

The question itself is introduced by leemor ("saying", H0559, infinitive construct) and consists of the interrogative madua ("why?", H4069) followed by the nominal clause penekhem ra'im hayom — "your faces [are] bad this day" (H6440, H7451A, H3117G). There is no explicit verb "to be"; Hebrew nominal clauses commonly juxtapose subject and predicate without a copula, so "faces" and "bad" stand directly together, with hayom ("the day", H3117G) marking the specific temporal frame ("today," "this day").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew adjective ra'im (H7451A, "bad/evil") is rendered in the LXX as σκυθρωπὰ ("sullen, gloomy"), a narrower emotional term than the broader Hebrew root, which can span "bad" in moral, physical, or emotional senses. The Vulgate's tristior... solito ("sadder than usual") introduces a comparative sense ("than usual") that is not present in the Hebrew text, which simply states the faces are "bad this day" without reference to a prior baseline.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.