Genesis 43:33

Summary

The brothers of Joseph are seated before him in order, the firstborn according to his birth order and the youngest according to his youth, and the men are astonished, each looking at his companion. The verse describes both the seating arrangement and the brothers' reaction of amazement.

Key words

• yeshevu ("they sat down", H3427) — qal verb, narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking the next event in the story sequence: the brothers being seated.
• bekhorato ("his birthright/birth order", H1062) — feminine singular construct noun with 3ms suffix, paired with ki ("according to", H9004) to express "according to his birthright."
• tze'irato ("his youth", H6812) — feminine singular construct noun with 3ms suffix, parallel in form to bekhorato, creating a matching pair contrasting eldest and youngest.
• yitmehu ("they looked in astonishment", H8539) — qal verb, narrative form, describing the brothers' collective emotional reaction.
• ish el re'ehu ("each to his companion", H0376I + H7453 + H9023) — a distributive construction using "man" (ish) paired with "his companion" (re'ehu, construct noun with suffix), expressing mutual/reciprocal action ("each one toward his fellow").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav on yeshevu ("and they sat down"), continuing the story sequence. The seating is specified through two parallel prepositional phrases built with ki ("according to"): ha-bekhor kivekhorato ("the firstborn according to his birthright/birth-order") and ve-ha-tza'ir kitze'irato ("and the young one according to his youth"). Both bekhorato and tze'irato are feminine singular construct nouns bearing the same third-person masculine singular suffix, producing a grammatically balanced pair that mirrors the contrast between eldest and youngest.

The second clause again begins with a narrative vav on yitmehu ("and they were astonished"), attached to ha-anashim ("the men", H0582). The astonishment is qualified by the distributive phrase ish el re'ehu ("each man to his companion"), where ish functions individually while re'ehu — a construct noun with a pronominal suffix — supplies the reciprocal sense "his fellow," together yielding "one to another." This construction does not use a dedicated reciprocal pronoun in Hebrew; the mutuality is conveyed purely through the ish...re'ehu pairing.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders bekhorato and tze'irato using ta presbeia ("seniority rights") and neotēta ("youth") respectively, both abstract nouns matching the Hebrew's construct sense. The Vulgate uses primogenita ("birthright things") for bekhorato but shifts to aetatem ("age") for tze'irato rather than a parallel "youngness" term, slightly breaking the symmetry present in the Hebrew pairing. The Vulgate also intensifies the astonishment with mirabantur nimis ("they marveled exceedingly"), an addition not reflected in the Hebrew yitmehu, which itself carries no intensifying adverb.