Genesis 43:5

וְאִם־אֵינְךָ מְשַׁלֵּחַ לֹא נֵרֵד כִּֽי־הָאִישׁ אָמַר אֵלֵינוּ לֹֽא־תִרְאוּ פָנַי בִּלְתִּי אֲחִיכֶם אִתְּכֶֽם׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאִם־אֵינְךָ֥ מְשַׁלֵּ֖חַ לֹ֣א נֵרֵ֑ד כִּֽי־הָאִ֞ישׁ אָמַ֤ר אֵלֵ֙ינוּ֙ לֹֽא־תִרְא֣וּ פָנַ֔י בִּלְתִּ֖י אֲחִיכֶ֥ם אִתְּכֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

εἰ δὲ μὴ ἀποστέλλεις τὸν ἀδελφὸν ἡμῶν μεθ’ ἡμῶν, οὐ πορευσόμεθα· ὁ γὰρ ἄνθρωπος εἶπεν ἡμῖν λέγων οὐκ ὄψεσθέ μου τὸ πρόσωπον ἐὰν μὴ ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν ὁ νεώτερος μεθ’ ὑμῶν ᾖ.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

sin autem non vis, non ibimus: vir enim, ut sæpe diximus, denuntiavit nobis, dicens: Non videbitis faciem meam absque fratre vestro minimo.

Spanish

Pero si no lo dejas ir, no bajaremos; porque aquel hombre nos dijo: ‘No volverán a ver mi rostro si no traen a su hermano con ustedes’”.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Pero si no le enviares, no descenderemos: porque aquel varón nos dijo: No veréis mi rostro sin vuestro hermano con vosotros.

English

But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘ You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

✦ What the text says

Summary

Judah tells Jacob that if he does not send Benjamin with them, the brothers will not go down to Egypt, because the Egyptian official had stated a condition: they will not see his face unless their brother is with them. The verse is built as a double conditional structure reinforcing the necessity of Benjamin's presence.

Key words

'einekha ("you are not", H0369) — construct noun with pronominal suffix functioning as a negative existential ("there is no...of you"), here negating the participle that follows to produce "if you are not sending."
meshaLeach ("sending", H7971G) — Piel participle, masculine singular; the Piel (intensive) stem here conveys the active, deliberate act of sending someone off, distinct from a simple "letting go."
neRed ("we will go down", H3381) — Qal imperfect, first person plural; imperfect aspect marks future/ongoing action, appropriate for the brothers' anticipated journey to Egypt (geographically "down" from Canaan).
tir'u ("you will see", H7200G) — Qal imperfect, second person masculine plural; part of the quoted speech attributed to "the man" (the Egyptian official), marking future prohibition.
bilti ("except", H1115) — a noun used adverbially to mean "except/without," introducing the exceptive clause that makes the brothers' access conditional on Benjamin's presence.

What the text says

The verse opens with a conditional construction using 'im ("if", H0518A) combined with the negative existential 'einekha ("you are not", H0369) plus the Piel participle meshaLeach ("sending", H7971G). This construction—'im 'einekha meshaLeach—expresses a present/future conditional: "if you are not sending [him]." The apodosis follows with lo neRed ("we will not go down", H3381), using the negation lo (H3808) with the Qal imperfect, indicating the brothers' resulting refusal to travel.

The second half of the verse, introduced by ki ("for", H3588A), gives the reason: the brothers quote the Egyptian official (ha'Ish, "the man", H0376G) who had said ('amar, Qal perfect, H0559) that they would not see his face (tir'u faNai, "you will see my face", H7200G + H6440H) bilti ("except", H1115) their brother being with them. The construct chain 'achikhem ("your brother", H0251G) followed by 'itekhem ("with you", H0854+H9036) closes the citation, making explicit that Benjamin's presence is the stated condition for the brothers' return access to the Egyptian official.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the quoted condition with an explicit reference to "your brother, the younger" (ὁ ἀδελφὸς ὑμῶν ὁ νεώτερος), adding "the younger" (νεώτερος) as a descriptor not present in the Hebrew text, which simply has 'achikhem ("your brother", H0251G) without a qualifying adjective. The Vulgate similarly reads "fratre vestro minimo" ("your youngest brother"), matching the LXX's addition of an age-related qualifier absent from the Hebrew construct phrase.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.