Genesis 46:6

Summary

The verse reports that Jacob's family took their livestock and the possessions accumulated in Canaan, and that Jacob together with all his offspring went down to Egypt. The sentence closes the description of the migration begun in the preceding verses.

Key words

• yiqchu ("they took", H3947G) — qal narrative (wayyiqtol) form; opens the verse with a completed sequential action, "and they took."
• mikneihem ("their livestock", H4735) — masculine singular noun in construct state with the 3mp suffix hem ("their"), producing "livestock-of-them."
• rekhusham ("their possessions", H7399) — construct noun + suffix, parallel to mikneihem; introduces the relative clause asher rakheshu ("which they had acquired").
• rakheshu ("they had accumulated", H7408) — qal perfect, marking completed action prior to the main narrative line, describing what was gathered be'eretz kena'an ("in the land of Canaan").
• yavo'u ("they came", H0935G) — qal narrative, 3rd person plural: "and they came" to Egypt; the plural form covers the compound subject named afterward (Jacob and his offspring).

What the text says

The verse is built as two narrative (wayyiqtol) clauses chained by the vav-consecutive: vayyiqchu ("and they took") and vayyavo'u ("and they came"). The first clause has a compound direct object marked twice by 'et: mikneihem ("their livestock") and rekhusham ("their possessions"), the second qualified by the relative clause asher rakheshu be'eretz kena'an ("which they had acquired in the land of Canaan"), using the qal perfect rakheshu to indicate this acquisition preceded the current action.

The second clause, vayyavo'u mitzrayemah, uses a plural verb "they came" even though the explicit subject that follows — Ya'aqov vekhol-zar'o itto ("Jacob and all his offspring with him") — is introduced only after the verb. The directional suffix -mah attached to mitzrayim ("Egypt") functions as the "toward" marker, so mitzrayemah means "to/toward Egypt" without a separate preposition. The final phrase vekhol-zar'o itto uses a construct chain (kol...zar'o, "all of his seed") followed by itto ("with him"), reinforcing that the offspring accompanied Jacob rather than acting independently.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb vayyavo'u ("and they came") is plural, treating the coming as a group action. The LXX instead uses the singular eisēlthen ("he entered/came"), with Jacob as the explicit singular subject, and the Vulgate similarly has the singular venit (in venitque, "and he came"). Both the LXX and Vulgate thus frame the arrival in Egypt as centered on Jacob individually, where the Hebrew grammar presents it as a collective plural action before naming Jacob and his offspring as its components.