Genesis 42:25

וַיְצַו יוֹסֵף וַיְמַלְאוּ אֶת־כְּלֵיהֶם בָּר וּלְהָשִׁיב כַּסְפֵּיהֶם אִישׁ אֶל־שַׂקּוֹ וְלָתֵת לָהֶם צֵדָה לַדָּרֶךְ וַיַּעַשׂ לָהֶם כֵּֽן׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיְצַ֣ו יוֹסֵ֗ף וַיְמַלְא֣וּ אֶת־כְּלֵיהֶם֮ בָּר֒ וּלְהָשִׁ֤יב כַּסְפֵּיהֶם֙ אִ֣ישׁ אֶל־שַׂקּ֔וֹ וְלָתֵ֥ת לָהֶ֛ם צֵדָ֖ה לַדָּ֑רֶךְ וַיַּ֥עַשׂ לָהֶ֖ם כֵּֽן׃

Greek (Septuagint)

ἐνετείλατο δὲ Ἰωσὴφ ἐμπλῆσαι τὰ ἂδησεν αὐτῶν σίτου, καὶ ἀποδοῦναι τὸ ἀργύριον ἑκάστου εἰς τὸν σάκκον αὐτοῦ, καὶ δοῦναι αὐτοῖς ἐπισιτισμὸν εἰς τὴν ὁδόν. καὶ ἐγενήθη αὐτοῖς οὕτως.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Tollensque Simeon, et ligans illis præsentibus, jussit ministris ut implerent eorum saccos tritico, et reponerent pecunias singulorum in sacculis suis, datis supra cibariis in viam: qui fecerunt ita.

Spanish

Después José mandó que les llenaran sus costales con trigo, que pusieran el dinero de cada uno dentro de su propio costal, y que les dieran provisiones para el viaje. Así se hizo con ellos.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y mandó José que llenaran sus sacos de trigo, y devolviesen el dinero de cada uno de ellos, poniéndolo en su saco, y les diesen comida para el camino: é hízose así con ellos.

English

Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out,

✦ What the text says

Summary

Genesis 42:25 narrates that Joseph gave a command with three components: to fill his brothers' vessels with grain, to return each man's silver to his own sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. The verse closes by confirming that this command was carried out.

Key words

y.Tzav ("he commanded", H6680) — piel narrative verb; the intensive stem marks this as a formal directive issued by Joseph, opening the sequence of actions.
y.mal.'U ("people filled", H4390) — piel narrative, third person plural; the subject is unspecified (impersonal "they"), meaning the text does not name who physically executed Joseph's order.
ha.Shiv ("return", H7725G) — hiphil infinitive (causative); the causative form indicates making the silver go back, not merely it returning on its own.
Tet ("give", H5414G) — qal infinitive; paired with ha.Shiv via the conjunction u- (H9002), the two infinitives form a coordinated list of tasks under Joseph's command.
i.Ya.'as ("someone did", H6213A) — qal narrative, third person singular; grammatically unspecified subject, closing the verse with confirmation that "thus" (Ken, H3651C) it was done.

What the text says

The verse is built around one governing verb, y.Tzav ("he commanded", H6680), with Joseph as its explicit subject. Everything that follows depends grammatically on this command: first a narrative verb, y.mal.'U ("people filled", H4390), then two infinitives — ha.Shiv ("return", H7725G) and la-Tet ("to give", H5414G) — joined by the conjunction ve- (H9002/H9005). This infinitive construction lets the text list multiple instructions without repeating "he commanded" each time; grammatically, the infinitives function as extensions of Joseph's single command rather than as independent actions.

The subjects of y.mal.'U and of the final verb i.Ya.'as ("someone did", H6213A) are grammatically unmarked as to identity — Hebrew simply uses third-person plural and third-person singular forms without naming who filled the sacks or who "did so." The noun phrases ke.lei-Hem ("their vessels", H3627+H9028) and kas.pei-Hem ("their silver", H3701G+H9028) use construct forms with pronominal suffixes, tying the vessels and silver possessively to "them" (the brothers), while 'ish ("each", H0376I) with 'el-sa.K-o ("to his sack", H8242+H9023) specifies that the return of silver is distributed individually, man by man, sack by sack. The verse ends with i.Ya.'as la.Hem Ken — "and it was done for them thus" — a formulaic closing confirming execution matching the command, using the adverb Ken ("thus", H3651C).

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) adds an explicit subject not present in the Hebrew: "Tollensque Simeon... jussit ministris" ("And Simeon, taking... he ordered the servants"), introducing Simeon and the servants as agents who "filled" and "returned," where the Hebrew leaves the subject of y.mal.'U ("people filled", H4390) unspecified. The LXX (ἐνετείλατο... ἐμπλῆσαι, "he ordered... to fill") preserves the infinitive structure similarly to the Hebrew's ha.Shiv/Tet pattern, without naming additional agents beyond Joseph's command.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.