Genesis 45:6

Summary

Joseph tells his brothers that the famine has already lasted two years and that five more years remain in which there will be no plowing or harvest. The verse is built as a nominal clause without an explicit verb "to be," a common feature of Biblical Hebrew stating a state of affairs.

Key words

• zeh ("this", H2088) — demonstrative used here with she.na.Ta.yim to mark a specific span of time already elapsed ("these two years"), not merely "a" two-year period.
• she.na.Ta.yim ("two years", H8141) — dual form of shanah, grammatically marking exactly two units, distinct from the plural sha.Nim used later for "five years."
• Ke.rev ("midst of", H7130G) — construct noun meaning "in the middle/interior of," giving be.qerev ha.'aretz the sense of the famine being spread through the whole extent of the land, not just a locality.
• 'ein ("there is not", H0369) — construct form of negation, governing charish directly, producing the fixed expression "there is no plowing."
• 'a.Sher ("that/when", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause describing the five years, linking it back to chamesh shanim.

What the text says

The clause ki-zeh she.natayim ha.ra'av be.qerev ha.'aretz has no finite verb in Hebrew; the sense "has been" or "is" is supplied by context, a typical feature of Hebrew nominal sentences describing ongoing states. The demonstrative zeh combined with the dual she.na.Ta.yim functions idiomatically to mean "it is now two years that...", framing the famine as a completed duration up to the moment of speaking. The famine is located be.qerev ha.'aretz, literally "in the midst/interior of the land," a construct phrase that emphasizes penetration throughout the territory rather than a bordering or partial effect.

The second half, introduced by ve.'od ("and still") plus chamesh shanim ("five years"), shifts to the plural form of shanah, contrasting grammatically with the dual used for the two years already passed. The relative clause 'asher 'ein-charish ve.qatzir uses the construct negative 'ein to state flatly that "plowing and harvest" do not exist during that time — a construct-based negation rather than a finite negated verb, which gives the statement a categorical, almost timeless quality describing the absence of agricultural activity itself, not simply someone's failure to act.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) renders the first clause as τοῦτο γὰρ δεύτερον ἔτος λιμὸς, "this is the second year of the famine," using an ordinal number ("second") where the Hebrew she.na.Ta.yim is a dual cardinal ("two years"). The Vulgate adds the verb coepit ("it began"), stating "Biennium est enim quod coepit fames esse in terra," an explicit verbal frame not present in the Hebrew nominal clause. Modern translations (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE) render the missing verb variously as "has covered," "ha habido," or "van," each supplying an aspect (durative or perfective) that the Hebrew leaves grammatically unspecified.