Genesis 45:24

Summary

Joseph sends his brothers away, they depart, and he tells them not to tirgezu ("stir up/be agitated", H7264) on the way. The verse consists of three short narrative clauses followed by a direct command.

Key words

• va-yeshallach ("and he sent off", H7971G) — piel stem intensifies the action of sending, marking a deliberate dispatch rather than a simple release; narrative vav sequences it as the next event.
• 'echav ("his brothers", H0251G) — construct plural noun with pronominal suffix -o ("his"), identifying the brothers as belonging to Joseph.
• va-yelekhu ("and they went", H1980G) — qal narrative form, third person plural masculine, continuing the sequence of events after the sending.
• tirgezu ("you stir up", H7264) — qal jussive form, second person plural masculine, expressing a prohibition (with the negation 'al, H0408) rather than a simple future statement.
• ba-darekh ("on the way", H1870L) — preposition with definite article attached to a common singular noun, specifying the location of the command.

What the text says

The verse is built from three consecutive narrative clauses joined by the vav ("and") that chains sequential actions in Biblical Hebrew narrative: Joseph sends (va-yeshallach), the brothers go (va-yelekhu), and Joseph speaks (va-yomer). Each verb form carries the narrative vav, producing the典型 "and then... and then..." rhythm typical of Hebrew storytelling, which flattens temporal distinctions that other languages might mark with subordinate clauses (e.g., "as they were leaving").

The final clause shifts from narration to direct speech, introduced by va-yomer ("he said") plus the prepositional phrase 'alehem ("to them"). The command itself uses the negative particle 'al with the jussive form tirgezu, a grammatical construction specific to prohibitions in Hebrew (distinct from the imperfect used for straightforward negation of future action). The root of tirgezu (H7264) denotes agitation or disturbance, a semantic range broader than one specific single English verb can capture — it can cover physical trembling, emotional agitation, or interpersonal conflict, and translators have rendered it variously as "quarrel," "be troubled," or "be agitated."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the sequence with δὲ ("but/then") after the first verb rather than a repeated "and," slightly loosening the tight narrative-vav chain visible in the Hebrew. For tirgezu, the LXX uses ὀργίζεσθε ("be angry"), the Vulgate uses irascamini ("be angry/be enraged"), while the Hebrew root H7264 covers a wider semantic field than anger alone, including agitation or trembling; the RV1909 and SBLIBRE render it as "riñáis"/"peleando" ("quarrel/fighting"), narrowing the sense toward interpersonal conflict rather than general agitation.