Genesis 43:15
וַיִּקְחוּ הָֽאֲנָשִׁים אֶת־הַמִּנְחָה הַזֹּאת וּמִשְׁנֶה־כֶּסֶף לָקְחוּ בְיָדָם וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִן וַיָּקֻמוּ וַיֵּרְדוּ מִצְרַיִם וַיַּֽעַמְדוּ לִפְנֵי יוֹסֵֽף׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּקְח֤וּ הָֽאֲנָשִׁים֙ אֶת־הַמִּנְחָ֣ה הַזֹּ֔את וּמִשְׁנֶה־כֶּ֛סֶף לָקְח֥וּ בְיָדָ֖ם וְאֶת־בִּנְיָמִ֑ן וַיָּקֻ֙מוּ֙ וַיֵּרְד֣וּ מִצְרַ֔יִם וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ לִפְנֵ֥י יוֹסֵֽף׃
Δαβόντες δὲ οἱ ἄνδρες τὰ δῶρα ταῦτα καὶ τὸ ἀργύριον ἔλαβον ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὸν Βενιαμείν· καὶ ἀνακατέβησαν εἰς Αἴγυπτον, καὶ ἒστησαν ἐναντίον Ἰωσήφ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Tulerunt ergo viri munera, et pecuniam duplicem, et Benjamin: descenderuntque in Ægyptum, et steterunt coram Joseph.
Así que los hermanos tomaron los regalos, el doble del dinero y a Benjamín, y bajaron a Egipto para presentarse ante José.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces tomaron aquellos varones el presente, y tomaron en su mano doblado dinero, y á Benjamín; y se levantaron, y descendieron á Egipto, y presentáronse delante de José.
So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. Joseph’s Hospitality to His Brothers
✦ What the text says
Summary
The brothers take the gift, the double amount of silver, and Benjamin, then set out, go down to Egypt, and stand before Joseph. The verse narrates the practical preparation and the journey in a rapid sequence of consecutive verbs.
Key words
- yikchu ("they took", H3947) — qal narrative form of the root laqach, marking the first link in the chain of events ("and then they took").
- minchah ("gift", H4503) — feminine singular noun with definite article and demonstrative zot ("this"), referring back to the gift prepared earlier in the story.
- mishneh-kesef ("double money/silver", H4932/H3701) — construct-like pairing meaning "double [amount] of silver"; kesef is the same word used for money throughout the Joseph narrative.
- laqechu ("they took", H3947) — the same root as word 2 (yikchu), but here in a different narrative position, describing the silver being taken "in their hand" (be-yadam).
- yakumu ("they arose", H6965) — qal narrative verb, denoting the act of standing up/setting out before the following verb of descent.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs: yikchu ("they took") → yakumu ("they arose") → yeredu ("they went down") → ya'amdu ("they stood"). This chain gives the verse a stepwise, sequential rhythm typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative, where each new action is explicitly marked as following the previous one.
Notably, the root laqach ("to take", H3947) appears twice in close succession: once for taking the minchah ("gift") and once for taking the mishneh-kesef ("double silver") "in their hand" (be-yadam, from yad, "hand", H3027, in construct form with the third-person plural suffix). This repetition ties the two objects — the gift and the silver — together as items physically carried by the men.
The final verb, ya'amdu ("they stood"), is followed by lifnei Yosef — literally "to the face of Joseph" (penei, construct plural of "face", H6440) — an idiomatic construction meaning "before Joseph," using the noun "face" rather than a simple preposition.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew has two separate narrative verbs, yakumu ("they arose") and yeredu ("they went down"), describing first standing up and then descending to Egypt. The LXX renders this as a single compound verb, ἀνακατέβησαν, which fuses the notion of "going up/arising" and "going down" into one term. The Vulgate omits any equivalent for yakumu ("they arose") altogether, giving only "descenderunt... in Ægyptum" ("they went down into Egypt"), without a separate verb for standing up or setting out.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.