Genesis 45:28

Summary

Jacob (referred to here as Yisra'El, "Israel", H3478) responds to the news that Joseph is alive by declaring it "enough" and announcing his intention to travel and see his son before dying. The verse closes the narrative unit of Genesis 45 with Jacob's direct speech.

Key words

• rav ("enough", H7227A) — masculine singular adjective functioning here as an exclamatory predicate, expressing sufficiency or satisfaction rather than a quantity of something specific.
• chai ("alive", H2416A) — masculine singular adjective serving as the predicate of the clause "Joseph my son [is] alive," with no copula verb present in the Hebrew.
• 'elekhah ("I will go", H1980G) — qal verb form (glossed here as infinitival but functioning as a first-person volitional/cohortative form) expressing Jacob's intention or resolve to act.
• ve'er'ennu ("and I may see him", H7200G + H9033) — imperfect verb with attached vav and pronominal suffix "him" (H9033), linking the action of seeing directly to Joseph as its object, continuing the purpose begun by "I will go."
• terem ("before", H2962) — used with the preposition be (H9003) and the verb 'amut ("I will die", H4191) to form the temporal clause "before I die."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative vav (H9001) attached to yomer ("he said", H0559), the standard formula introducing direct speech in narrative sequence. The subject Yisra'El (H3478) is stated explicitly, identifying the speaker by this name rather than "Jacob" at this point in the text.

Jacob's speech itself consists of two short clauses without any connecting conjunction between them: rav ("enough", H7227A) stands alone as an exclamation, followed by 'od-Yosef beni chai — "still Joseph my son [is] alive." The word 'od ("still", H5750) modifies the state of being alive, and the predicate adjective chai (H2416A) carries the verbal sense of "is alive" without any Hebrew verb "to be," a common feature of nominal clauses in Biblical Hebrew.

The second half of the verse contains two verbs in sequence: 'elekhah ("I will go", H1980G) followed by ve'er'ennu ("and I may see him", H7200G), the second carrying the pronominal suffix nu ("him", H9033) referring back to Joseph. This pairing expresses purpose — going in order to see. The final clause, introduced by be-terem ("before", H9003 + H2962), sets the temporal limit "before I die" ('amut, H4191), an imperfect form indicating a future, not-yet-realized event.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders rav ("enough", H7227A) as "sufficit mihi" ("it is enough for me"), adding the first-person pronoun "mihi" not explicitly present as a separate word in the Hebrew text, though implied by context. The Vulgate also renders the conditional nuance "si adhuc... vivit" ("if he still lives"), introducing a conditional "si" not present in the Hebrew, which states the fact directly ("Joseph my son is alive") rather than as a condition.