Genesis 44:2

Summary

Joseph instructs that his silver cup be placed in the mouth of the youngest brother's sack, along with the silver payment for the grain. The narrative then states that the steward acted according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

Key words

• gevi'i ("my cup", H1375) — construct noun with 1st-person suffix, naming the object to be hidden.
• gevia ha-kesef ("cup of the silver", H1375 + H3701) — a second construct phrase repeating "cup," now specified as being "of silver," in apposition to the first.
• tasim ("you will put", H7760) — qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular, expressing a future/directive action (a command given to the addressee).
• ha-qaton ("the young one", H6996) — adjective with definite article, functioning as a substantive ("the youngest [brother]").
• dibber ("he had spoken", H1696) — piel perfect of the same root as devar ("word"), forming a verb–noun pair that closes the verse by echoing the instruction just given.

What the text says

The verse opens with a doubled object construction: ve-'et gevi'i, "and my cup," immediately followed by gevia ha-kesef, "the cup of the silver." Both phrases are grammatically constructs referring to the same object — the cup — with the second clarifying its material. This repetition, rather than being redundant in Hebrew style, reinforces the identity of the object before the verb tasim ("you will put") appears. The verb is a qal imperfect, which in this context functions as an instruction directed at the addressee, describing an action yet to occur.

The location is given through a chain of construct nouns: pi ("mouth of") governing amtachat ("sack of"), itself governing ha-qaton ("the young one"), literally "the mouth of the sack of the young one." This construct chain nests three nouns to pinpoint the exact sack. A second object, kesef shivro ("the silver of his grain-buying"), is added with the conjunction ve-'et, marking it as an additional item placed together with the cup.

The final clause shifts to narrative sequence with the vav-consecutive verb vaya'as ("and he did"), followed by ki-devar Yosef ("according to the word of Joseph") and the relative clause asher dibber ("which he had spoken"). The noun devar ("word") and the verb dibber ("he spoke") share the same root, creating a verbal echo between the instruction and its fulfillment within the same sentence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence as a direct command ("put... in the sack") whereas the Hebrew uses a 2nd-person imperfect that reads as an instruction to a single addressee; the Vulgate similarly renders it as an imperative-style directive ("pone in ore sacci"). The Vulgate condenses the closing clause to "factumque est ita" ("and so it was done"), omitting explicit mention of "the word of Joseph" and "which he had spoken" found in the Hebrew and LXX (κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμα Ἰωσὴφ καθὼς εἶπεν).