Genesis 41:9

Summary

Genesis 41:9 records the chief cupbearer speaking to Pharaoh, introducing his account of the dream episode from the previous chapter. He opens by stating that he is now remembering his own past failures, using a construction that places emphasis on "my sins" as the topic of his speech.

Key words

• y.da.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb, narrative form; the piel stem intensifies the act of speaking, marking the beginning of the cupbearer's direct address.
• sar ("chief of", H8269) — masculine singular construct noun; requires a following noun to complete its meaning, here linked to mashqim.
• mash.Kim ("cupbearers", H4945A) — hiphil participle, masculine plural; grammatically a participle ("those who cause to drink"), functioning here as a title/profession noun.
• cha.ta.'A ("sins of", H2399) with suffix -i ("my") — masculine plural construct noun; the plural form indicates multiple offenses, not a single sin.
• maz.Kir ("bringing to remembrance", H2142) — hiphil participle, masculine singular; the causative stem frames the action as "causing [something] to come to mind" rather than a simple recollection.

What the text says

The verse opens with the standard narrative pattern: va-yedaber ("and he spoke") followed by the subject sar ha-mashqim ("the chief of the cupbearers") and the addressee marked by 'et-Par'oh ("Pharaoh"), closed by the infinitive le'mor ("saying") that introduces direct speech. This is a conventional narrative-to-quotation transition.

Within the quoted speech, the word order is notable: 'et-chata'ai 'ani mazkir hayom places the direct object chata'ai ("my sins") before the subject pronoun 'ani ("I") and the verb mazkir. This front-loading of the object is a marked syntactic choice in Hebrew, giving prominence to "my sins" as the focus of the statement, rather than following the more neutral subject-verb-object pattern. The verb itself, mazkir, is a hiphil participle from the root zakar ("to remember"), so its causative form frames the action as "causing to be remembered" or "bringing to mind," describing an ongoing or present state (participle) rather than a single completed act.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew chata'ai is plural ("sins"), while the LXX renders it with the singular τὴν ἁμαρτίαν μου ("my sin") and the Vulgate likewise uses the singular "peccatum meum." Additionally, the Vulgate introduces the verb "Confiteor" ("I confess"), which is a stronger, more formal declarative act than the Hebrew mazkir ("bringing to remembrance") or the LXX's ἀναμιμνήσκω ("I recall"), both of which describe an act of memory rather than confession.