Genesis 46:30

Summary

Genesis 46:30 records Israel's (Jacob's) words to Joseph upon their reunion in Egypt. He states that he is now ready to die, having seen Joseph's face and knowing that Joseph is still alive.

Key words

• amutah ("let me die", H4191) — qal form expressing a wish or resolve, "let me die" / "I may die now."
• ha-Pa'am ("this time", H6471) — feminine singular noun with definite article, marking a specific occasion ("this time," i.e., now).
• achar Rei'oti ("after my having seen", H0310A + H7200G) — construct chain combining "after" with an infinitive bearing a first-person suffix ("my seeing"), producing "after my seeing."
• panekha ("your face", H6440H) — masculine plural construct noun with second-person suffix, "your face," the object of the seeing.
• odkha chai ("you are still alive", H5750 + H2416A) — construct noun "still/yet" with suffix ("your still-ness") followed by the adjective chai ("alive"), forming "you are still alive."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative sequence marker va-yomer ("and he said," H0559), followed by the subject Yisra'El ("Israel," H3478) and the addressee marked by 'el ("to," H0413) plus Yosef ("Joseph," H3130G). The reported speech begins with amutah ha-pa'am — literally "let me die this time" — where the verb form expresses a first-person wish rather than a simple future statement, and ha-pa'am specifies "now, on this occasion" rather than a general readiness to die at any point.

The reason clause is built from two parts joined by the conjunction structure. First, achar re'oti et-panekha uses the construct form achar ("after," H0310A) governing the infinitive re'oti ("my seeing," H7200G) with the first-person suffix, and et (H0853) marks panekha ("your face," H6440H) as the direct object — "after my having seen your face." Second, ki (H3588A) introduces a subordinate clause meaning "that/because," followed by odkha chai — the construct noun od ("still," H5750) bearing the second-person suffix, plus the adjective chai ("alive," H2416A) — literally "your still-being alive," i.e., "that you are still alive."

The Hebrew thus links two grounds for Israel's statement: the act of seeing Joseph's face, and the fact of Joseph's continued life, both introduced by subordinating particles (achar and ki) rather than being merged into a single reason.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders amutah ha-pa'am as "Ἀποθανοῦμαι ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν" ("I shall die from now on"), a future-tense construction differing from the Hebrew's wish-form amutah. The Vulgate adds "pater" ("father") as the subject and inserts "lætus" ("joyful/glad"), an interpretive addition not present in the Hebrew text, and phrases the final clause as "superstitem te relinquo" ("I leave you surviving"), differing from the Hebrew's "you are still alive" (odkha chai).