Genesis 42:29

Summary

The verse narrates the brothers' arrival to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and their report to him of everything that had happened to them. It functions as a transition verse, closing the journey narrative and introducing the direct speech that follows.

Key words

• va-yavo'u ("and they came", H0935G) — qal narrative verb with the vav-consecutive construction, marking the next event in the story sequence ("and then they came").
• avihem ("their father", H0001G) — construct noun "father of" plus the suffix hem ("their", H9028), forming "father-of-them" = "their father."
• artzah ("to the land of", H0776G) — construct noun "land of" with a directional he (H9011) attached, indicating motion toward Canaan ("landward-Canaan").
• va-yaggidu ("and they told", H5046) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb, meaning literally "they caused [it] to be told/declared."
• ha-qqorot ("the things that had happened", H7136A) — qal participle, feminine plural, with the definite article, functioning as a substantive: "the [things] happening/having happened."

What the text says

The verse is built from two parallel narrative clauses joined by the vav-consecutive chain typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling: va-yavo'u ("and they came") followed later by va-yaggidu ("and they told"). Each verb carries the narrative vav (H9001), which sequences the action as part of the ongoing story rather than as an isolated statement.

The phrase artzah kena'an uses a construct noun artzah ("land of") with a directional he suffix rather than a preposition, a common Hebrew mechanism for expressing motion toward a place ("to the land of Canaan") without a separate word for "to."

The object of the telling is introduced by the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) twice: once before kol-ha-qqorot ("all the things that had happened") and once before the suffixed otam ("them", H9038) attached to a second 'et. The phrase kol-ha-qqorot otam uses the qal participle ha-qqorot ("the ones happening/befalling") functioning nominally — literally "all the befalling-things [that happened] to-them" — a construction that packs an entire relative clause ("what had happened to them") into a participle plus suffixed object marker. The final word le'mor (H0559), an infinitive construct of "to say," functions as a formula introducing direct speech, signaling that the brothers' actual words follow.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders va-yaggidu with apēngeilan ("they reported/announced") and adds legontes ("saying") as a participle rather than an infinitive, matching the Hebrew le'mor functionally but with a different verb form. The Vulgate's narraverunt ("they narrated") corresponds similarly. The Spanish SBLIBRE reorders the clause, placing "when they arrived in the land of Canaan" before naming Jacob as father, differing from the Hebrew word order where avihem ("their father") appears immediately after Jacob's name and before the destination phrase.