Genesis 41:16

Summary

Joseph responds to Pharaoh, denying that he himself possesses the ability to interpret dreams, and states that it is God who will provide the answer concerning Pharaoh's welfare. The verse frames Joseph's role as a mere transmitter, redirecting the credit to divine agency.

Key words

• va-Ya'an ("and he answered", H6030B) — narrative vav + qal verb; opens the sentence in sequential past narration, marking Joseph's spoken response to Pharaoh.
• bil'aDai ("apart from me", H1107 + H9030) — construct form with 1st person suffix; literally "apart-from-of-me," isolating Joseph from the source of the answer.
• Elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun (grammatically plural, referring to a singular subject here); functions as the subject of the verb that follows.
• ya'aNeh ("he will answer", H6030B) — qal imperfect, same root as va-Ya'an in word 2; expresses future/ongoing action, contrasting Joseph's completed act of "answering" with God's future "answering."
• sheLom ("welfare of", H7965G) — construct noun, masculine singular, requiring a following noun ("of Pharaoh") to complete its meaning.

What the text says

The sentence divides into two clauses joined without a connective: first Joseph's disclaimer, bil'adai ("apart from me," H1107), and second the statement that Elohim ("God," H0430G) ya'aneh ("will answer," H6030B) et-shelom Par'oh ("the welfare of Pharaoh," H7965G + H6547H). The Hebrew builds a deliberate repetition of the root ana (H6030B): Joseph "answered" (va-ya'an) Pharaoh by saying that God "will answer" (ya'aneh) his welfare. This root-play links the human act of speaking with the divine act of resolving, though the same verb form is used differently — perfect narrative for Joseph, imperfect for God.

The construct chain shelom Par'oh ("the welfare/peace of Pharaoh") ties the two direct-object markers ('et, H0853, appearing twice, in position 4 and 12) to their respective objects — first Pharaoh as the one addressed, then Pharaoh's shalom as what will be addressed by God. The construct form bil'adai stands syntactically isolated at the start of Joseph's quoted speech, emphasizing exclusion of self before the introduction of Elohim as true subject of the following verb.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate ("Absque me Deus respondebit prospera Pharaoni") follows the Hebrew structure closely, keeping the negation attached to Joseph ("apart from me") and rendering shelom as "prospera" ("prosperous things"). The LXX shifts the negation: "Ἄνευ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐκ ἀποκριθήσεται" ("without God, [it] will not be answered"), attaching the exclusion to God rather than to Joseph, and translates shelom as τὸ σωτήριον ("the saving thing"), a term with different semantic range than "welfare/peace."