Genesis 44:32
כִּי עַבְדְּךָ עָרַב אֶת־הַנַּעַר מֵעִם אָבִי לֵאמֹר אִם־לֹא אֲבִיאֶנּוּ אֵלֶיךָ וְחָטָאתִי לְאָבִי כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
כִּ֤י עַבְדְּךָ֙ עָרַ֣ב אֶת־הַנַּ֔עַר מֵעִ֥ם אָבִ֖י לֵאמֹ֑ר אִם־לֹ֤א אֲבִיאֶ֙נּוּ֙ אֵלֶ֔יךָ וְחָטָ֥אתִי לְאָבִ֖י כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃
ὁ γὰρ παῖς σου ἐκδέδεκται τὸ παιδίον παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς λέγων Ἐὰν μὴ ἀγάγω αὐτὸν πρὸς σὲ καὶ στήσω αὐτὸν ἐναντίον σου, ἡμαρτηκὼς ἔσομαι πρὸς τὸν πατέρα πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Ego proprie servus tuus sim qui in meam hunc recepi fidem, et spopondi dicens: Nisi reduxero eum, peccati reus ero in patrem meum omni tempore.
Yo, su siervo, me hice responsable del muchacho ante mi padre, diciéndole: ‘Si no te lo traigo de regreso, seré culpable ante ti toda mi vida’.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Como tu siervo salió por fiador del mozo con mi padre, diciendo: Si no te lo volviere, entonces yo seré culpable para mi padre todos los días;
Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy ’s safety to my father, saying, ‘ If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’
✦ What the text says
Summary
Judah recalls that he personally guaranteed ('arav, H6148) Benjamin's safe return to their father, and quotes his own earlier vow: if he fails to bring the boy back, he will bear guilt before his father kol-hayamim ("all the days", H3605/H3117G) — for the rest of his life.
Key words
- 'arav ("he stood surety for", H6148) — qal perfect, a completed action: Judah's guarantee was already made and remains in force as a settled fact.
- na'ar ("young man", H5288) — with the definite article ha- (H9009), referring to a specific, already-known boy (Benjamin).
- 'avi'ennu ("I will bring him", H0935P) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with 3ms suffix -nu (H9033): "I will cause him to come," expressing future/ongoing action, embedded inside the quoted conditional oath.
- chatati ("I will be culpable", H2398) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive, H9001 + H2398): grammatically a "perfect" form, but functioning as the consequence clause following the imperfect condition, i.e., "and [then] I will have sinned/be guilty."
- kol-hayamim ("all the days", H3605 + H9009 + H3117G) — construct chain "all of the days," an idiom of unlimited duration.
What the text says
The verse opens with ki ("for", H3588A) introducing Judah's explanation, followed by 'avdekha ("your servant", H5650 + H9021) as the grammatical subject of 'arav. The qal perfect of 'arav frames Judah's surety as a completed, binding act performed me'im 'avi ("from with my father", H9006+H5973B+H0001G), i.e., in his father's presence or before him.
The core of the verse is a quoted oath, introduced by le'mor ("saying", H0559, infinitive construct), containing an 'im...lo' ("if...not") conditional (H0518A + H3808) governing the hiphil imperfect 'avi'ennu. The apodosis uses ve-chatati, a vav-consecutive perfect that syntactically continues the imperfect's future orientation — the Hebrew conditional-sequential structure (imperfect condition + vav-consecutive perfect consequence) expresses a single continuous future scenario: "if I do not bring him... then I will have become guilty." This tense chaining is a feature of Biblical Hebrew narrative syntax that does not map directly onto a single verb tense in translation.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders 'arav ("stood surety", H6148) with ἐκδέδεκται ("has taken in pledge/received"), and adds καὶ στήσω αὐτὸν ἐναντίον σου ("and I will set him before you"), a clause with no corresponding words in the Hebrew text as given. The Vulgate expands similarly, adding "qui in meam hunc recepi fidem" ("who took him into my trust"), material not present in the Hebrew word list.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.