Genesis 42:15

Summary

Joseph tells his brothers how they will be tested: he swears by the life of Pharaoh that they will not leave the place unless their youngest brother comes there. The verse combines a demonstrative statement of method with an oath formula and a conditional clause of exception.

Key words

• ti.ba.Che.nu ("you will be tested", H0974) — Niphal imperfect, passive/reflexive form: the brothers are the recipients of the testing action, not its agents; "you all" (m. pl.) is grammatically encoded in the verb form itself.
• chei ("[by] the life of", H2416A) — construct form of "life," functioning as an oath particle introducing the swearing formula "by the life of Pharaoh."
• te.tze.'U ("you will go out", H3318G) — Qal imperfect, "you all" (m.), expressing future/ongoing action, negated by the preceding 'im (H0518H) to form the oath's negative content ("you will not go out").
• ki ("that", H3588B) followed by 'im ("except", H0518B) — this paired construction (ki im) functions as "unless/except," introducing the sole condition under which the prohibition is lifted.
• Vo' ("comes", H0935G) — Qal infinitive construct ("in the coming of"), used with the preposition be (H9003) to form a temporal clause: "when your brother comes."

What the text says

The verse opens with be-zot ("by this," H9003 + H2063), pointing forward to the method of testing about to be stated, followed immediately by the Niphal verb ti.ba.Che.nu, which places the brothers grammatically as those acted upon. The oath formula chei Far'oh ("by the life of Pharaoh") uses the construct form of "life" as a swearing idiom, a common Hebrew pattern for invoking someone's life as guarantee of a statement's truth.

The core of the sentence is built on two linked conditional/negative particles: 'im (H0518H) negates the first clause ("if you go out from here" functions as "you will not go out from here" in oath syntax), and ki im (H3588B + H0518B) introduces the exception ("except when..."). This ki im construction is a standard Hebrew way of expressing "unless," setting up a single permitted condition. That condition is expressed through the infinitive construct be-Vo' ("in the coming of"), governing the phrase "your brother, the young one, here" — the infinitive construct with prefixed be (H9003) creates a temporal clause without needing a separate conjunction like "when" as a distinct word.

The adjective ha-qaton ("the young," H6996H) with the definite article modifies "your brother" ('achikhem, construct + suffix), specifying which brother is meant, and henah ("here," H2008) closes the clause by repeating the locative sense already established by mizzeh ("from here") earlier in the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the oath as νὴ τὴν ὑγίαν Φαραώ ("by the health of Pharaoh"), using ὑγίαν ("health") where the Hebrew has chei ("life"), a semantic shift in the oath's content. The Vulgate uses "per salutem Pharaonis" ("by the safety/health of Pharaoh"), aligning closer to the LXX's "health" sense than to the Hebrew "life." The Vulgate also adds "donec veniat" ("until he comes"), a temporal construction that renders the sense of the ki im be-Vo' clause using "until" rather than a strict "unless" structure.