Genesis 43:16

Summary

Joseph sees Benjamin among his brothers and instructs the man in charge of his household to bring the men inside, prepare a meal, and have it ready, because they will eat with him at noon.

Key words

• va-yar ("and he saw", H7200G) — qal narrative verb form (vav-consecutive), marking the next event in the story: Joseph's visual perception of the group.
• 'asher 'al beito ("who [was] over his house", H0834A + H5921A + H1004B) — a relative clause using 'al ("over") plus beit ("house") in construct with a suffix, functioning as a title equivalent to "the one in charge of his household."
• tevoach tevach ("slaughter a slaughter", H2873 + H2874) — an infinitive-like imperative paired with a noun from the same root, a construction that intensifies the command (a "figura etymologica"), stressing the act of slaughtering itself.
• yo'khelu ("they will eat", H0398) — qal imperfect, indicating an action not yet completed, here future/purposive: what will happen once preparations are made.
• ba-tzohorayim ("at the noons", H6672A) — noun in dual form; Hebrew treats "noon" grammatically as a dual (paired) noun, referring to the midday hour.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative chain typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling: va-yar ("and he saw") followed later by va-yomer ("and he said"), both vav-consecutive forms that push the action forward in sequence. The object of Joseph's sight is expressed twice — first 'itam ("with them", H0854 + suffix), then specifically 'et-Binyamin ("Benjamin", marked by the direct object marker 'et, H0853) — a doubling that highlights Benjamin as the particular focus among the group.

Joseph's speech to his household manager consists of three imperative verbs in sequence: have (H0935P, causative/hiphil, "bring"), tevoach (H2873, "slaughter"), and hakhen (H3559A, causative/hiphil, "prepare"). The second of these is reinforced by the cognate noun tevach ("a slaughter", H2874), a construction where the verb and its own action-noun appear together, adding emphasis to the command beyond what a single imperative could convey. The reason clause introduced by ki ("for/that", H3588A) explains the purpose: yo'khelu ("they will eat"), a qal imperfect denoting an action projected into the near future, tied to the phrase 'iti ("with me", H0854 + suffix), placing Joseph as the host. The temporal marker ba-tzohorayim uses the Hebrew dual form for "noon," a grammatical feature not reproduced by translations that render it simply as "midday" or "noon."

Differences between versions

The LXX adds ton adelphon autou ton homomētrion ("his brother by the same mother"), a descriptive phrase about Benjamin not present in the Hebrew text. The LXX also renders the meal preparation with artous ("bread/loaves"), while the Hebrew tevach refers to slaughtering an animal, not baking bread. The Vulgate's victimas ("victims/sacrificial animals") and convivium ("banquet") expand the terse Hebrew imperatives tevoach and hakhen into more elaborate descriptive nouns.