Genesis 43:12

Summary

Jacob instructs his sons to take double the amount of silver on their return trip to Egypt, and specifically to bring back the silver that had been mysteriously replaced in their sacks, suggesting it may have been an oversight.

Key words

• khesef ("silver", H3701) — appears twice in the verse (once as "double silver" to take, once as "the silver" to return), anchoring the verse's focus on the two quantities of money.
• mishneh ("double", H4932) — masculine singular noun modifying khesef, indicating an amount twice the original sum, to cover both the first payment and its replacement.
• hamushav ("was returned", H7725) — hophal (causative-passive) participle: literally "the [silver] that was caused to be put back," describing the silver as having been placed in the sacks by an external, unspecified agent.
• tashivu ("you will take back", H7725) — hiphil (causative-active) imperfect, same root as hamushav: the sons themselves are commanded to actively "cause [the silver] to return" to Egypt.
• mishgeh ("mistake", H4870) — masculine singular noun paired with the pronoun hu' ("it", H1931), forming the closing clause "perhaps it is a mistake."

What the text says

The verse is built around two imperative/volitive clauses joined by ve ("and", H9002): first kekhu ("take", H3947) governs "double silver... in your hand," then tashivu ("you will take back", H7725) governs "the silver that was returned... in your hand." Both clauses end with the phrase ve-yedkhem ("in your hand", H3027 + H9026), creating a structural parallel that frames the silver twice as an object placed literally "in the hand" of the sons — first the new double payment, then the returned original payment.

The most notable grammatical feature is the repetition of the root שוב (shuv, "to return") in two different verbal stems: hamushav (H7725, hophal participle) describes the silver as something that "was caused to be returned" — a passive construction that avoids naming who put it back — while tashivu (H7725, hiphil imperfect) commands the sons to "cause it to return" actively, i.e., to bring it back themselves. This root-play links the mysterious past action (silver appearing in the sacks) with the required future action (bringing it back), using grammar alone to draw the connection between problem and remedy. The final clause, 'ulai mishgeh hu' ("perhaps it is a mistake", H0194 + H4870 + H1931), uses the adverb 'ulai to express Jacob's tentative, non-committal explanation for the silver's presence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mishgeh ("mistake", H4870) as ἀγνόημα ("an unwitting error/oversight"), a term with a more technical sense of inadvertent wrongdoing than the general Hebrew noun. The Vulgate's errore similarly conveys "by error," aligning closely with the Hebrew's neutral tone. The BSB restructures the two Hebrew imperative clauses into a purpose construction ("Take double... so that you may return..."), which is not explicit in the Hebrew, where both verbs stand as independent, parallel commands joined simply by ve.