Genesis 42:34

Summary

This verse reports the demand attributed to the Egyptian official (identified as Joseph in the surrounding narrative): the brothers must bring their youngest brother to him, so that he can confirm they are not spies but honest men. Only then will he return the detained brother and allow them to trade in the land.

Key words

• ha.vi.'u ("bring", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) imperative, plural: a direct command to cause the brother to come, not merely "let him come."
• 'e.de.'Ah ("let me know", H3045) — qal form functioning as a purpose clause ("so that I may know"), expressing the intended result of the action just commanded.
• me.ra.ge.Lim ("spies", H7270) — piel participle, plural: describes an ongoing accused role ("the ones doing reconnaissance"), not a fixed noun but a participial characterization.
• khe.Nim ("honest/upright", H3651A) — adjective, plural, contrasted directly with me.ra.ge.Lim; the two terms form the poles of the accusation to be resolved.
• tis.Cha.ru ("you will go about in / trade in", H5503) — qal imperfect, plural: a future/ongoing verb describing the activity permitted once trust is established, governing "the land" as its object of movement or transaction.

What the text says

The verse is built as a conditional sequence introduced by the imperative ha.vi.'u ("bring," H0935P) followed by a purpose clause with 'e.de.'Ah ("let me know," H3045). The Hebrew syntax places the two disputed identities—me.ra.ge.Lim ("spies," H7270) and khe.Nim ("honest men," H3651A)—in parallel clauses each introduced by ki ("that/if," H3588A), creating a balanced structure: "not spies... but honest men." This repetition of ki marks two linked conditions of the same knowing-act rather than two separate statements.

The final two clauses use imperfect verbs, 'e.Ten ("I will give," H5414G) and tis.Cha.ru ("you will go about in," H5503), both carrying future or resultative force. The repeated object marker 'et before "your brother" (H0251G with suffix H9026) in lines 3–4 and again in 19–21 frames the brother as the central object of both the initial command and the eventual promise of return, tying the beginning and near-end of the verse together through repetition of the same phrase 'a.chi.khem ("your brother").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders tis.Cha.ru ("you will go about in," H5503) as ἐμπορεύεσθε ("you may trade/do business"), matching the Hebrew's commercial nuance. The Vulgate diverges more substantially: instead of a clause about trading in the land, it reads "et istum, qui tenetur in vinculis, recipere possitis... quæ vultis, emendi habeatis licentiam" ("that you may be able to receive him who is held in bonds... and have permission to buy what you wish"), introducing the detail of bonds and buying rights not present in the Hebrew's tis.Cha.ru clause. The Spanish RV1909 and BSB follow the Hebrew/LXX sense of trading "in the land," while the Vulgate's expanded phrasing represents an interpretive addition beyond the Hebrew's more compact statement.