Genesis 42:24
וַיִּסֹּב מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶם וַיֵּבְךְּ וַיָּשָׁב אֲלֵהֶם וַיְדַבֵּר אֲלֵהֶם וַיִּקַּח מֵֽאִתָּם אֶת־שִׁמְעוֹן וַיֶּאֱסֹר אֹתוֹ לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּסֹּ֥ב מֵֽעֲלֵיהֶ֖ם וַיֵּ֑בְךְּ וַיָּ֤שָׁב אֲלֵהֶם֙ וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם וַיִּקַּ֤ח מֵֽאִתָּם֙ אֶת־שִׁמְע֔וֹן וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ר אֹת֖וֹ לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
ἀποστραΦεὸς ῥαφεὶς δὲ ἀπ’ αὐτῶν ἒκλαυσεν ἸωσήΦ. καὶ πάλιν π ροσἡλθεν πρὸς αὐτοὺς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἔλαβεν τὸν Συμεὼν ἀπ’ αὐτῶν, καὶ ἒδησεν αὐτὸν ἐναντίον αὐτῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Avertitque se parumper, et flevit: et reversus locutus est ad eos.
José se alejó de ellos y se puso a llorar. Luego regresó, habló de nuevo con ellos, y ordenó que tomaran a Simeón y lo ataran frente a todos.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y apartóse él de ellos, y lloró: después volvió á ellos, y les habló, y tomó de entre ellos á Simeón, y aprisionóle á vista de ellos.
And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes. Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates Joseph withdrawing from his brothers to weep, then returning to speak with them, after which he takes Simeon and has him bound in front of the others. The sequence of verbs marks a rapid chain of actions within a single narrative moment.
Key words
- yissov ("he turned away", H5437G) — qal narrative form of the verb, first in a chain of vav-consecutive verbs marking sequential action.
- yevek ("he wept", H1058) — qal narrative, describing the emotional response that follows the withdrawal.
- yedabber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel narrative form, an intensive stem contrasting with the simple qal forms used for the physical actions (turning, weeping, taking, binding).
- yiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative, introducing the action directed at Simeon, marked by the object marker et (H0853).
- ye'esor ("he bound", H0631) — qal narrative, the final act in the chain, followed by le'einei ("eyes of", H5869J), a construct dual noun indicating that the binding happened visibly, "before the eyes of" the brothers.
What the text says
The verse is built entirely on a chain of vav-consecutive qal (and one piel) verbs — yissov, yevek, yashov, yedabber, yiqqach, ye'esor — each attached with the narrative vav (H9001), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative strings actions together as "and then... and then...". This creates a compact, rapid sequence: turning away, weeping, returning, speaking, taking, binding. The subject "he" is not named again after the initial introduction implied by context; it is carried through the verb conjugations themselves, since Hebrew verb forms encode person and number.
The prepositional phrases me'aleihem ("from with them") and aleihem ("to them") both use the same pronominal suffix hem ("them", H9038) attached to different prepositions, marking movement away from and then back toward the same group. The final phrase le'einei hem ("to the eyes of them," i.e., "before their eyes") uses a construct dual noun for "eyes," a common Hebrew idiom for something happening in plain view of witnesses, structurally distinct from the simpler prepositions used earlier in the verse.
Differences between versions
The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders only part of the verse — "Avertitque se parumper, et flevit: et reversus locutus est ad eos" ("he turned away for a little while, and wept, and having returned, spoke to them") — stopping before the taking and binding of Simeon, which is not present in the provided Vulgate text. The LXX (LXXSWETE) includes the full action but explicitly names "Ioseph" (Ἰωσήφ) as the subject, where the Hebrew text uses only the verb form without repeating the proper name in this verse.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.