Genesis 44:26
וַנֹּאמֶר לֹא נוּכַל לָרֶדֶת אִם־יֵשׁ אָחִינוּ הַקָּטֹן אִתָּנוּ וְיָרַדְנוּ כִּי־לֹא נוּכַל לִרְאוֹת פְּנֵי הָאִישׁ וְאָחִינוּ הַקָּטֹן אֵינֶנּוּ אִתָּֽנוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַנֹּ֕אמֶר לֹ֥א נוּכַ֖ל לָרֶ֑דֶת אִם־יֵשׁ֩ אָחִ֨ינוּ הַקָּטֹ֤ן אִתָּ֙נוּ֙ וְיָרַ֔דְנוּ כִּי־לֹ֣א נוּכַ֗ל לִרְאוֹת֙ פְּנֵ֣י הָאִ֔ישׁ וְאָחִ֥ינוּ הַקָּטֹ֖ן אֵינֶ֥נּוּ אִתָּֽנוּ׃
ἡμεῖς δὲ εἴπαμεν Οὐ δυνησόμεθα καταβῆναι· ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν ὁ ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν ὁ νεώτερος καταβαίνει μεθ’ ἡμῶν, καταβησόμεθα· οὐ γὰρ δυνησόμεθα ἰδεῖν τὸ πρόσωπον τοῦ ἀνθρώπου, τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ τοῦ νεωτέρου μὴ ὄντος μεθ’ ἡμῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Cui diximus: Ire non possumus: si frater noster minimus descenderit nobiscum, proficiscemur simul: alioquin illo absente, non audemus videre faciem viri.
Nosotros le respondimos: ‘No podemos ir. Sólo bajaremos si nuestro hermano menor va con nosotros; porque no podremos ver el rostro de aquel hombre si nuestro hermano menor no nos acompaña’.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y nosotros respondimos: No podemos ir: si nuestro hermano fuere con nosotros, iremos; porque no podemos ver el rostro del varón, no estando con nosotros nuestro hermano el menor.
But we answered, ‘ We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’
✦ What the text says
Summary
The brothers report to Jacob what they told Joseph: they cannot go down to Egypt again unless their youngest brother accompanies them, because they will not be permitted to see "the man's face" without him. The verse is a reported speech within the larger narrative, restating a condition already given earlier in the story.
Key words
- nuKhal ("we are able", H3201) — qal imperfect, repeated twice (lines 4 and 19), framing the whole statement as a matter of ongoing/future capacity, not simple refusal.
- Redet ("go down", H3381) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed la- ("to"), expressing purpose: "to go down."
- 'aChinu haKaton ("our brother, the young one", H0251G + H6996H) — construct chain "brother of us" plus attributive adjective with article, repeated identically in both halves of the verse (lines 9–12 and 26–29), anchoring the condition on this specific person.
- peNei ha'Ish ("face of the man", H6440H + H0376G) — construct noun phrase; "face" in construct with "the man," an idiomatic way of referring to appearing before/interacting with someone.
- 'eiNennu ("he is not", H0369 + H9043) — negative existential particle with pronominal suffix, used instead of a finite verb to state absence: literally "there-is-not-of-him," i.e., "he is not [with us]."
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of clauses joined by narrative vav and the subordinating particles 'im ("if", H0518A) and ki ("for/that", H3588A). The first clause states the general inability: lo' nuKhal laRedet ("we are not able to go down"). This is immediately qualified by a conditional clause introduced by 'im: "if our brother, the young one, is with us" — using the existential yesh ("there is", H3426) in construct with 'aChinu — "and we will go down" (ve-yaRadnu, sequential perfect continuing the narrative chain). The second half restates the same inability with ki ("for"), this time explaining the reason through the negative counterpart: lo' nuKhal lir'ot peNei ha'ish ("we are not able to see the face of the man"), followed by the negative existential clause ve-'aChinu haKaton 'eiNennu 'itanu ("and our brother, the young one, is not with us"). The repetition of nuKhal and of the phrase 'aChinu haKaton creates a parallel structure: a positive condition (presence → ability to go down) mirrored by a negative condition (absence → inability to see the man's face). The construct phrase peNei ha'ish ("face of the man") is notable grammatically as a fixed idiom for direct encounter, distinct from a literal reference to facial features.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the conditional structure with εἰ μὲν ("if indeed") and shifts the second clause into a genitive absolute (τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ ... μὴ ὄντος, "the brother not being"), whereas the Hebrew uses the existential negator 'eiNennu. The Vulgate introduces audemus ("we dare"), a nuance of daring not present in the Hebrew nuKhal ("we are able"), which expresses capacity/permission rather than courage.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.