Genesis 43:10

Summary

Judah states a counterfactual condition: if the brothers had not delayed their journey, they would already have made the trip to Egypt and back twice. The sentence uses two conditional/emphatic particles and paired perfect-tense verbs to express what would have happened under different circumstances.

Key words

• lulé ("if not", H3884) — a conditional particle specifically used for counterfactual conditions (contrary to fact), distinct from a simple "if."
• hitmahmahnu ("we had delayed", H4102) — hithpael stem, perfect aspect, 1st person plural; the hithpael form here carries a reflexive/self-involved nuance ("we delayed ourselves" / "we lingered"), marking the hypothetical cause.
• ki ("for", H3588A) — appears twice in the verse (positions 1 and 4), functioning as a subordinating particle that introduces and reinforces the logical connection between clauses.
• shavnu ("we have returned", H7725G) — qal stem, perfect aspect, 1st person plural; the simple (non-reflexive) stem contrasts with the hithpael verb above, marking the hypothetical result.
• zeh pa'amayim ("this two times", H2088 + H6471) — pa'amayim is a feminine dual noun literally meaning "two times/twice"; combined with the demonstrative zeh ("this"), it forms an idiomatic expression for "by now, twice already."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a counterfactual conditional with two linked clauses, each introduced by a form of ki (H3588A). The first ki functions together with lulé (H3884) to set up the protasis: "for if we had not delayed" — using the hithpael perfect hitmahmahnu (H4102) to describe the (unrealized) condition. The second ki, paired with the adverb 'atah ("now", H6258), introduces the apodosis: "for now we would have returned." The shift from the hithpael verb (delaying) to the qal verb shavnu (H7725G, returning) marks a grammatical contrast between the hypothetical cause and the hypothetical effect, both expressed in the perfect aspect — a form Biblical Hebrew uses for counterfactual past situations even though the events never occurred.

The closing phrase zeh pa'amayim (H2088 + H6471) uses the dual noun pa'amayim ("two times") with the demonstrative zeh ("this") to produce an idiom equivalent to "twice by now" or "twice already," emphasizing how much time has been lost.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two Hebrew ki clauses with εἰ μὴ γὰρ ("for if not") and a single γάρ, collapsing the double particle structure into one causal marker plus a conditional. The Vulgate similarly simplifies to a single "Si non... jam," not reproducing the repeated ki. Where the Hebrew has the idiom zeh pa'amayim ("this two times"), the LXX has δίς ("twice") and the Vulgate has "vice altera" ("a second time"), both losing the demonstrative zeh present in the Hebrew.