Genesis 44:10

Summary

The steward responds to the brothers' proposal, agreeing to their terms but modifying the penalty: only the one with whom the object is found will become his slave, while the rest will be considered innocent. The verse balances agreement ("according to your words") with a specific legal condition.

Key words

• ki-divrei-khem (built from dibrei, "words", H1697H + suffix H9026) — construct plural noun with second-person plural suffix, meaning "according to your words," referencing the brothers' own prior proposal (likely from v. 9).
• yimmatze' ("it is found", H4672) — niphal (passive) imperfect, indicating the object is discovered without specifying who does the finding — the focus is on the outcome, not the agent.
• yihyeh-li (from yihyeh, "he will be", H1961 + H9005 "of/to me") — qal imperfect with prepositional suffix, literally "he will be to me," expressing future possession ("he will be my slave").
• tihyu ("you will be", H1961) — qal imperfect, second-person masculine plural, parallel in form to yihyeh in the same verse, creating a grammatical contrast between singular guilt and plural innocence.
• neqiyyim ("innocent", H5355A) — masculine plural adjective, describing the collective status of the brothers who are not found with the object.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative marker va-yomer ("and he said", H9001 + H0559), introducing direct speech. The steward's reply begins with gam-'attah ("also now", H1571 + H6258), an adverbial pairing that reinforces immediacy and agreement with what precedes. The phrase ke-divreikhem ken-hu' ("according to your words, so it is/will be") uses the construct noun divrei ("words", H1697H) with a second-person plural suffix, directly echoing the brothers' own proposal and confirming it as binding.

The conditional clause is built with the relative particle 'asher ("whom", H0834A) followed by the niphal verb yimmatze' ("it is found", H4672). The niphal form removes the emphasis on who discovers the object, focusing instead on the state of being found. The consequence uses two parallel imperfect verbs from the same root, yihyeh (H1961) for the singular guilty party and tihyu (H1961) for the plural group, both expressing future states of being — enslavement for one, innocence (neqiyyim, H5355A) for the rest.

Differences between versions

The LXX and Vulgate specify "the cup" (τὸ κόνδηυ / not explicit in Vulgate but implied) as the object sought, while the Hebrew text here uses only the relative 'asher... yimmatze' ("whom... is found") without naming the item explicitly in this verse. The LXX phrase ὁ ἄνθρωπος παρ' ᾧ ἂν εὑρεθῇ ("the man with whom it is found") makes explicit the human referent, whereas the Hebrew 'asher yimmatze' ito ("whom it is found with him") is more compact, relying on the niphal verb and prepositional suffix alone.