Genesis 47:3

Summary

Pharaoh asks Joseph's brothers about their occupation, and they answer that they are shepherds of flocks, as their fathers were before them. The exchange is framed as direct speech introduced twice by the verb "to say."

Key words

• va-yo'mer ("and he said", H0559) — qal narrative form, marks the sequential unfolding of the story; used twice (once for Pharaoh, once for the brothers), structuring the verse as a dialogue.
• 'echai ("brothers of", H0251G) — masculine plural construct with the suffix -v ("his"), meaning "his brothers," identifying the addressees of Pharaoh's question.
• ma'asei-khem ("your works/occupation", H4639G) — masculine plural construct of ma'aseh with the 2nd person plural suffix, literally "the works of you (pl.)," asking about their activity or livelihood.
• ro'eh tzo'n ("shepherd of sheep/flock", H7462B + H6629G) — participle in construct with a singular noun, a common Hebrew idiom using a singular participle to describe a collective occupation, even though multiple brothers are speaking.
• 'avoteinu ("our fathers", H0001G) — feminine plural construct (though the noun refers to male ancestors, the plural form of 'av is grammatically feminine) with the 1st person plural suffix, closing the verse by extending the occupation back to the previous generation.

What the text says

The verse is built as two parallel speech units, each opened by va-yo'mer ("and he said"). The first clause is short: Pharaoh's question mah-ma'aseikhem ("what are your works?") uses the interrogative mah directly attached to the construct noun ma'asei with the suffix -khem, producing a compact nominal question without a copula — Hebrew does not need "is" here, unlike English "what is your occupation?"

The brothers' answer uses a participle, ro'eh ("herder of"), in construct with tzo'n ("flock/sheep"), a singular collective noun. This construct phrase functions almost like a job title, applied to the plural subject 'avadeikha ("your servants," referring to themselves). The repetition of gam...gam ("both...as well as") links 'anachnu ("we") and 'avoteinu ("our fathers") as parallel subjects sharing the same occupation, extending the identity of shepherd across two generations within a single grammatical unit.

Differences between versions

The LXX names the addressee explicitly as "the brothers of Joseph" (ἀδελφοῖς Ἰωσήφ), where the Hebrew simply has 'echav ("his brothers") without naming Joseph in this verse. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely with "quos ille interrogavit" ("whom he questioned"), not specifying "brothers" by name either, but restructures the question as indirect speech ("Quid habetis operis?") rather than the direct nominal question of the Hebrew.