Genesis 45:11

Summary

Joseph tells his brothers that he will provide for them at the place he has designated, explaining that five years of famine still remain. He frames this provision as necessary so that they, their households, and all their possessions do not fall into destitution.

Key words

• khil.kal.Ti ("I will provide for", H3557) — piel stem intensifies the verb, and the sequential perfect form ties this action to what precedes it in the narrative, projecting it into future time despite the perfect conjugation.
• ra.'Av ("famine", H7458) — masculine singular noun, the condition that necessitates Joseph's provision, quantified by the preceding chamesh shanim ("five years", H2568/H8141).
• pen ("lest", H6435) — subordinating particle introducing a negative purpose clause: the provision exists specifically to prevent the outcome that follows.
• ti.va.Resh ("you should become impoverished", H3423I) — niphal (passive) imperfect: the subject undergoes impoverishment rather than causing it, and the imperfect aspect marks this as an unrealized, potential future state.
• vei.te.kha ("your household", H1004M) — masculine singular noun in construct form with the pronominal suffix "your," denoting the domestic unit under Joseph's brother's responsibility.

What the text says

The verse opens with a narrative ve (H9001) continuing the sequence of Joseph's speech, followed by khil.kal.Ti ("I will provide for", H3557) in the piel stem — a form that in Hebrew often carries an intensive or sustained nuance, here suggesting ongoing sustenance rather than a single act. The direct object marker 'et (H0853) with the suffix kha ("you", H9031) marks the recipient explicitly, and sham ("there", H8033G) anchors the action to a specific location established earlier in the narrative.

The causal clause beginning with ki (H3588A, "for") explains the necessity: od chamesh shanim ra'av ("still five years of famine") — a construction listing the number before the noun shanim ("years", H8141) and then the noun ra'av ("famine", H7458) in apposition, indicating the famine will persist across those five years.

The second half pivots on pen (H6435, "lest"), introducing a negative purpose clause governed by the niphal imperfect tivvaresh ("you should become impoverished", H3423I). The niphal stem casts the subject as passively undergoing impoverishment, and the imperfect aspect frames this as a potential future to be averted. The scope of who is protected from this fate expands through coordinated phrases: 'attah ("you", H0859A), u-veitekha ("and your household", H1004M), and ve-khol 'asher-lakh ("and all that belongs to you", H3605/H0834A/H9005), the last built on the relative particle 'asher plus the preposition le with suffix, literally "all that [is] to you."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the household term as οἱ υἱοὶ σου ("your sons") where the Hebrew has veitekha ("your household", H1004M), a narrower designation than the Hebrew's broader domestic unit. The Vulgate's domus tua ("your house") aligns more closely with the Hebrew term. The LXX's verb ἐκτριβῇς ("you be worn away/destroyed") and the Vulgate's pereas ("you perish") both intensify the outcome beyond the Hebrew niphal tivvaresh, which specifically denotes impoverishment rather than destruction or death.