Genesis 41:12

Summary

This verse is part of the cupbearer's speech to Pharaoh, recalling how a young Hebrew man, a slave of the captain of the guard, was present with him and the baker in prison. They told him their dreams, and he interpreted each dream according to its own meaning.

Key words

• na'ar ("a young man", H5288) — masculine singular noun identifying the Hebrew man by age/status, not yet named as Joseph in this verse.
• 'ivri ("a Hebrew", H5680) — gentilic adjective marking ethnic identity, modifying na'ar.
• nesaper ("we recounted", H5608A) — piel verb with narrative vav, intensive stem conveying the act of relating/telling in detail; first-person plural subject ("we").
• yiftor ("he interpreted", H6622) — qal verb with narrative vav, continuing the narrative chain; third-person singular subject.
• patar ("he interpreted", H6622) — same root as above, but here in qal perfect (completed action), used at the end of the verse to restate the interpretation as a finished act, distinct from the narrative-vav form earlier in the verse.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure opens with ve-sham ("and there") plus 'itanu ("with us"), establishing location and inclusion before introducing the subject na'ar 'ivri ("a young man, a Hebrew"). This is followed by an appositional phrase, 'eved le-sar ha-tabbachim ("a slave of the commander of the bodyguards"), which specifies his social status via a construct chain (sar + ha-tabbachim, "commander of the bodyguards").

The narrative continues with two verbs joined by the narrative vav (va-), a common Biblical Hebrew device that chains sequential actions: nesaper ("we recounted") and yiftor ("he interpreted"). The first verb is in the piel stem, which often intensifies or extends the basic meaning of the qal — here suggesting a fuller, more detailed act of narration compared to a simple "telling." The second verb, yiftor, uses the qal stem for the straightforward act of interpreting.

The final clause, 'ish ka-chalomo patar ("each according to his dream, he interpreted"), repeats the root patar (H6622) but now in the qal perfect, marking completed action. This creates a structural echo: the narrative-vav form (yiftor) reports the event within the story sequence, while the perfect form (patar) closes the verse by emphasizing that the interpretation was accomplished individually — 'ish ("each," H0376I) distributing the action per person, paired with the construct ka-chalomo ("according to his dream").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders nesaper ("we recounted", H5608A) with diēgēsametha ("we narrated"), consistent with the Hebrew piel's intensive nuance. However, the LXX and Vulgate do not represent the final clause 'ish ka-chalomo patar ("each according to his dream, he interpreted") as a separate statement; the Vulgate ends the verse at "cui narrantes somnia" ("to whom, narrating dreams"), omitting the distributive repetition found in the Hebrew.