Genesis 47:25

Summary

The people respond to Joseph by acknowledging that he has kept them alive, expressing hope to remain in his favor, and declaring their willingness to become servants of Pharaoh. The verse is their direct speech, structured as three short clauses joined by the narrative vav.

Key words

• he.che.yi.Ta.nu ("you have preserved alive", H2421) — hiphil perfect with 1st person plural suffix "us": a causative verb, meaning the subject (Joseph, addressed as "you") acted to cause the people's survival; the perfect marks this as a completed act.
• nim.tza' ("may we find", H4672) — qal imperfect, "we": imperfect aspect gives it an open, wished-for or ongoing sense rather than a completed fact — closer to "let us find" or "we hope to find."
• chen ("favor", H2580) — masculine singular noun, the object sought "in the eyes of" the lord.
• 'ei.Nei ("eyes of", H5869I) — feminine dual construct: the dual form reflects the paired body part "eyes," in construct linking to "my lord," producing the idiom "in the eyes of."
• ha.Yi.nu ("we will be", H1961) — qal sequential perfect, "we": continues the narrative sequence begun with the imperfect, giving the sense of a resulting or consequent state — "and so we will be."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav on va-yo'meru ("and they said", H0559), marking the transition to direct speech. The speech itself contains three verbal clauses in sequence. First, he.che.yi.Ta.nu ("you have preserved alive us") uses the hiphil perfect: the causative stem indicates that the addressee did not merely observe the people's survival but actively brought it about, and the perfect aspect presents this as an accomplished fact preceding the moment of speaking.

The second clause, nim.tza' chen be-'einei 'adoni ("may we find favor in the eyes of my lord"), shifts to the qal imperfect. This aspect leaves the action open — not a report of a completed event but an expressed wish or ongoing aim. The construct chain 'ei.Nei 'a.do.Ni ("eyes of my lord") uses the dual noun for "eyes" governing "lord" with a 1st person suffix, producing the standard idiom for being regarded favorably by someone.

The third clause, ve-ha.Yi.nu 'avadim le-Far'oh ("and we will be servants to Pharaoh"), employs the sequential perfect ha.Yi.nu, which continues the logical/temporal flow from the preceding imperfect: the finding of favor is followed by (or results in) the state of being 'avadim ("slaves/servants", H5650) — masculine plural — "to/for Pharaoh," marked by the preposition le- ("to/for", H9005) indicating possession or belonging to Pharaoh.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'adoni ("my lord", H0113 + suffix) as τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν ("our lord"), shifting the 1st person singular suffix to plural. The Vulgate expands the clause considerably, adding "respiciat nos tantum dominus noster" ("let our lord only look upon us") and "læti serviemus regi" ("we will gladly serve the king"), introducing the idea of gladness (laeti) not present in the Hebrew verbal forms, and rendering le-Far'oh ("to Pharaoh") as "regi" ("to the king") rather than using the title directly.