Genesis 46:20

Summary

Genesis 46:20 records the birth of Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, born to him in Egypt by his wife Asenath, identified as the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. The verse closes the list of Jacob's descendants who came to Egypt by naming Joseph's own offspring born there.

Key words

• va-yivvaled ("and he was born", H3205) — niphal (passive) verb with narrative vav, marking the birth as an event happening to the subject rather than an action performed by him; establishes the main clause of the verse.
• yaledah ("she bore", H3205) — same root as the previous verb but in qal perfect, active voice, with Asenath as subject; the shift from passive to active voice highlights the mother as the one who bears while the son is the one "born."
• 'eretz Mitzrayim ("land of Egypt", H0776G + H4714G) — construct chain locating the birth geographically, "land of" + "Egypt."
• bat ("daughter of", H1323G) — construct noun introducing Asenath's paternal lineage, linking her to Potiphera.
• kohen ("priest of", H3548) — construct noun identifying Potiphera's office, followed by the place name On (H0204).

What the text says

The verse opens with a niphal verb, va-yivvaled ("it was born", H3205), whose grammatical subject is not yet named — the sentence structure delays the identity of who was born until later, first specifying "to Joseph" (le-Yosef, H3130G) and "in the land of Egypt" (be-'eretz Mitzrayim). This is followed by a relative clause introduced by 'asher ("whom", H0834A), which shifts to the active qal verb yaledah ("she bore", H3205) with Asenath as subject. The repetition of the same root (H3205) in both passive and active forms creates a grammatical mirroring: the sons are said to be "born" (passive, focus on Joseph as recipient) and then "borne" (active, focus on Asenath as the one who gives birth).

Asenath's identity is given through a chain of construct phrases: bat Poti-fera ("daughter of Poti-phera", H1323G) and kohen 'On ("priest of On", H3548 + H0204), tracing her paternal and social background before the two direct objects of the birth—Manasseh and Ephraim—are finally named, each marked by the object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated). The direct object markers indicate that Manasseh and Ephraim are grammatically the objects of the verb yaledah, i.e., what Asenath bore, closing the sentence with the two names that the entire construction has been building toward.

Differences between versions

The LXX restructures the sentence with huioi ("sons") as the explicit subject of egenonto ("were born"), stating "sons of Joseph were born," rather than following the Hebrew's delayed-subject construction. The LXX also renders the place name On (H0204) as Hēliou poleōs ("city of the sun"/Heliopolis), interpreting the toponym rather than transliterating it, while the Vulgate preserves it as Heliopoleos, following the same interpretive tradition as the LXX rather than the Hebrew's plain 'On.