Genesis 45:2

Summary

Genesis 45:2 describes Joseph giving voice to loud weeping, which was heard both by the Egyptians present and, subsequently, by Pharaoh's household. The verse uses two parallel hearing-verbs to show the sound spreading outward in stages.

Key words

• va-yiTen ("and he gave", H5414M) — qal narrative form of the verb "to give"; here it governs qol to produce the idiom "he gave his voice," i.e., he let out a sound.
• qoL ("voice", H6963A) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning "voice of," bound to the following suffix "his."
• bi-v'khi ("in weeping", H1065) — masculine singular noun preceded by the preposition bi ("in"); specifies the manner in which the voice was given.
• va-yishme'U ("and they heard", H8085G) — qal narrative form, plural subject; the first hearing-event, attributed to Mitzrayim ("Egypt", H4713).
• va-yishMa' ("and he heard", H8085G) — same verbal root as the previous word, but singular subject; the second hearing-event, attributed to beit Par'oh ("household of Pharaoh", H1004M + H6547H), a construct phrase meaning "house of Pharaoh."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of three narrative clauses linked by the vav consecutive (va-), each advancing the action one step: first Joseph "gives his voice in weeping" (va-yiTen et-qoLo bi-v'khi), then "Egypt hears" (va-yishme'U Mitzrayim), then "the house of Pharaoh hears" (va-yishMa' beit Par'oh). The verb natan ("to give", H5414M) combined with the object qol ("voice") is an idiomatic construction meaning to produce a sound audibly, distinct from simply "weeping" (bakhah); the noun bekhi ("weeping", H1065) instead specifies the manner via the preposition bi.

Grammatically notable is the repetition of the same root shama' ("to hear", H8085G) in two different grammatical numbers: plural (yishme'u, "they heard") for Mitzrayim treated as a collective plural entity, and singular (yishma', "he/it heard") for beit Par'oh, treated as a singular collective noun ("house/household"). This grammatical distinction marks two separate groups and two distinct moments of perception, moving from the general Egyptian populace to the specific royal household, though the Hebrew does not explicitly state a causal or temporal link between the two hearings beyond the sequential vav.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the first clause as ἀφῆκεν φωνὴν μετὰ κλαυθμοῦ ("he let out a voice with weeping"), close to the Hebrew idiom. The Vulgate uses Elevavitque vocem cum fletu ("and he raised his voice with weeping"), interpreting natan ("to give") as "to raise." The LXX adds πάντες ("all") before "the Egyptians," an element not present in the Hebrew text, which simply says Mitzrayim ("Egypt"). The Vulgate connects the two hearing-clauses with a relative pronoun (quam audierunt... omnisque domus), merging what the Hebrew presents as two separate verbal clauses into one relative construction.