Genesis 45:5

Summary

Joseph tells his brothers not to grieve or be angry with themselves for having sold him into Egypt. He reframes the event by stating that God sent him ahead of them for the purpose of michyah ("preservation of life", H4241).

Key words

• teatzevu ("you be grieved", H6087A) — niphal jussive, 2nd person masculine plural; the niphal stem gives a passive/reflexive sense ("be grieved" rather than "grieve"), and the jussive form expresses a prohibition ("do not let yourselves be grieved").
• yichar ("it burn", H2734) — qal jussive, 3rd person masculine singular; used idiomatically with be'eynei ("in the eyes of") to express anger or displeasure, literally "let it not burn in your eyes."
• mekhartem ("you sold", H4376) — qal perfect, 2nd person masculine plural; a completed action, naming the brothers directly as the ones who sold him.
• michyah ("preservation of life", H4241) — feminine singular noun, preceded by the preposition le ("for"), marking purpose or goal.
• shelachani ("he sent me", H7971G) — qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular with 1st person suffix; the subject is Elohim ("God", H0430G), presenting the sending as a completed divine act.

What the text says

The verse divides into two prohibitions followed by two causal clauses, each introduced by ki (H3588A), which can mean "that" or "for/because" depending on context. The first ki clause (verses 12–15) states the brothers' action: mekhartem oti hennah ("you sold me hither"), using the completed qal perfect to name the deed plainly, with the direct object marker 'ot (H0853) plus 1st-person suffix marking Joseph as the object. The second ki clause (verses 16–24) shifts the frame to divine agency: le-michyah shelachani Elohim lifneichem ("for preservation of life God sent me before you"). The grammatical subject changes from the brothers ("you sold") to God ("he sent"), and the same event — Joseph's removal to Egypt — is described from two different agentive perspectives without one clause negating the other.

The construction yichar be'eyneichem (H2734 + H5869I with 2nd person plural suffix) is an idiom built on the noun 'eynei ("eyes of," dual construct form), literally placing the "burning" (anger/displeasure) "in the eyes" of the brothers. The dual form of "eyes" is standard idiomatic usage in Biblical Hebrew for expressing subjective perception or opinion, not itself carrying extra meaning beyond the idiom.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mekhartem oti hennah ("you sold me hither") as ἀπέδοσθέ με ὧδε ("you sold/gave me away here"), using ἀπέδοσθε for "sold," roughly matching the Hebrew. The Vulgate reads "vendidistis me in his regionibus" ("you sold me into these regions"), expanding hennah ("hither") into "in his regionibus" ("in these regions"), a broader spatial rendering. The Vulgate also renders lifneichem ("before you") as "ante vos in Ægyptum," adding "in Ægyptum" ("into Egypt"), a specification not present in the Hebrew wording lifnei-khem.