Genesis 41:50

Summary

The verse reports that two sons were born to Joseph before the year of famine arrived, and identifies their mother as Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

Key words

• yulLad ("it was born", H3205) — qal pual perfect, third masculine singular; the passive intensive form marks the birth as a completed event narrated from the sons' perspective ("there were born"), rather than focusing on Joseph as agent.
• terem ("before", H2962) — used with the preposition be ("in") to form a temporal clause, "before... came," setting the birth in relation to a future event described with an imperfect verb.
• taVo' ("it came", H0935G) — qal imperfect, third feminine singular, agreeing with shenat ("year of", H8141) which is grammatically feminine; the imperfect here marks the famine's arrival as not-yet-realized at the time of the sons' birth.
• yaledah ("she bore", H3205) — qal perfect, third feminine singular, referring to Asenath as the one who bore the children; this verb is grammatically distinct from yullad (pual) used for the sons "being born" in the first clause.
• kohen ("priest of", H3548) — construct singular, linking Potiphera's title to the place name 'On ("On", H0204), specifying his priestly office there.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with u-le-Yosef ("and to Joseph"), placing Joseph in a dative-like position before the passive verb yullad ("it was born"), so the grammatical subject is shenei vanim ("two sons", H8147 construct + H1121A), with Joseph as the indirect recipient. This construction differs from an active "Joseph fathered/begot," emphasizing the sons as the grammatical focus rather than Joseph's action.

The temporal clause be-terem tavo' shenat ha-ra'av ("before the year of the famine came") uses the imperfect tavo' to describe the famine's arrival as not yet accomplished relative to the birth, establishing a before/after sequence between the sons' birth and the onset of the famine year.

The final clause shifts to an active qal perfect, asher yaledah-lo Asenat ("whom Asenath bore to him"), where the relative particle 'asher ("whom", H0834A) connects back to the "two sons" and names Asenath as the one who bore them, followed by her genealogy through the construct chain bat-Poti-fera' kohen 'On ("daughter of Potiphera, priest of On").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders shenat ha-ra'av ("the year of the famine") with τὰ ἑπτὰ ἔτη τοῦ λιμοῦ ("the seven years of the famine"), specifying a numeral not present in the Hebrew, which speaks only of "the year" in the singular. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with antequam veniret fames ("before the famine came"), without the numeral seen in the LXX. The Hebrew place name 'On (H0204) appears in the LXX as Ἡλίου Πόλεως ("City of Heliopolis") and in the Vulgate as Heliopoleos, both rendering the Egyptian toponym by its Greek equivalent rather than transliterating the Hebrew form.