Genesis 47:19
לָמָּה נָמוּת לְעֵינֶיךָ גַּם־אֲנַחְנוּ גַּם אַדְמָתֵנוּ קְנֵֽה־אֹתָנוּ וְאֶת־אַדְמָתֵנוּ בַּלָּחֶם וְנִֽהְיֶה אֲנַחְנוּ וְאַדְמָתֵנוּ עֲבָדִים לְפַרְעֹה וְתֶן־זֶרַע וְנִֽחְיֶה וְלֹא נָמוּת וְהָאֲדָמָה לֹא תֵשָֽׁם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
לָ֧מָּה נָמ֣וּת לְעֵינֶ֗יךָ גַּם־אֲנַ֙חְנוּ֙ גַּ֣ם אַדְמָתֵ֔נוּ קְנֵֽה־אֹתָ֥נוּ וְאֶת־אַדְמָתֵ֖נוּ בַּלָּ֑חֶם וְנִֽהְיֶ֞ה אֲנַ֤חְנוּ וְאַדְמָתֵ֙נוּ֙ עֲבָדִ֣ים לְפַרְעֹ֔ה וְתֶן־זֶ֗רַע וְנִֽחְיֶה֙ וְלֹ֣א נָמ֔וּת וְהָאֲדָמָ֖ה לֹ֥א תֵשָֽׁם׃
ἵνα μὴ ἀποθάνωμεν ἐναντίον σου καὶ ἡ γῆ ἐρημωθῇ, κτῆσαι ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν γῆν ἡμῶν ἀντὶ ἄρτων, καὶ ἐσόμεθα ἡμεῖς καὶ ἡ γῆ ἡμῶν παῖδες δὸς σπέρμα ἵνα σπείρωμεν καὶ μὴ ἀποθάνωμεν, καὶ ἡ γῆ θήσεται.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Cur ergo moriemur te vidente? et nos et terra nostra tui erimus: eme nos in servitutem regiam, et præbe semina, ne pereunte cultore redigatur terra in solitudinem.
¿Vamos a morir ante sus propios ojos, nosotros y nuestras tierras? Cómprenos a nosotros y a nuestras tierras a cambio de pan, y seremos esclavos del faraón y la tierra será de él. Pero denos semilla para que podamos sobrevivir, para que no muramos y la tierra no quede desolada”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
¿ Por qué moriremos delante de tus ojos, así nosotros como nuestra tierra? Cómpranos á nosotros y á nuestra tierra por pan, y seremos nosotros y nuestra tierra siervos de Faraón: y danos simiente para que vivamos y no muramos, y no sea asolada la tierra.
Why should we perish before your eyes — we and our land as well? Purchase us and our land in exchange for food. Then we, along with our land, will be slaves to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse records the Egyptians' proposal to Joseph during the famine: they ask why they should die before his eyes, and offer themselves and their land in exchange for food, proposing to become slaves to Pharaoh in return for seed to survive and prevent the land from becoming desolate.
Key words
- na.Mut ("will we die", H4191) — qal imperfect, appears twice (positions 3 and 37), framing the speech with the threat of death, first as a rhetorical question, then negated ("we will not die").
- 'ei.Nei.kha ("your eyes", H5869J + H9021) — feminine dual noun in construct with a 2nd person suffix, forming the idiom le-'einekha ("before your eyes"), a common Hebrew expression for someone witnessing an event directly.
- ke.neh ("buy", H7069) — qal imperative, the first of two imperatives in the verse (with ten, "give", H5414G), showing the Egyptians directly commanding Joseph to act.
- 'a.va.Dim ("slaves", H5650) — masculine plural noun, describing the status the Egyptians propose for themselves in exchange for survival.
- nich.Yeh ("we may live", H2421) — qal imperfect with vav, paired antithetically with na.Mut ("we will die") later in the verse, creating a life/death contrast structured through consecutive verb forms.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence opens with the interrogative La.mah ("why?", H4100 + H9005) followed by na.Mut ("will we die"), a qal imperfect verb, forming a rhetorical question. The phrase gam...gam ("both...as well", H1571) repeated twice links "we" ('a.Nach.nu, H0587) and "our land" ('ad.ma.Te.nu, H0127G + H9025) as a paired subject facing the same fate.
The core of the proposal uses two qal imperatives directed at the addressee: ke.neh ("buy") and ten ("give"). Each imperative introduces a purpose clause built with an imperfect verb prefixed by ve- ("and/so"): after "buy us," the text says ve-nih.Yeh ("so we may be [slaves]"); after "give seed," it says ve-nich.Yeh ("so we may live"). This grammatical pattern (imperative + vav-imperfect) marks purpose or result in Biblical Hebrew, showing that slavery and survival are presented as consequences of the requested actions.
The verse closes with two negated imperfects: ve-lo' na.Mut ("and we will not die") and ve-lo' te.Sham ("and the land will not be desolate"), the second using a feminine singular verb agreeing with ha-'a.da.Mah ("the land", H0127G), forming a symmetrical closing that mirrors the opening death-question.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders le-'einekha ("before your eyes") as enantion sou ("before you"), omitting the specific "eyes" imagery present in the Hebrew dual noun. The Vulgate preserves the eye-imagery with te vidente ("you seeing/watching"). The LXX also adds ἵνα σπείρωμεν ("that we may sow") after "give seed," a clause not present in the Hebrew word list. The Vulgate's in servitutem regiam ("into royal servitude") specifies "royal" servitude, an addition not explicit in the Hebrew la-Far'oh ("to Pharaoh").
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.