Genesis 48:1

Summary

The verse marks a narrative transition ("and it happened after these things") and reports that Joseph was informed of his father's illness. Joseph then takes his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him.

Key words

• yehi ("it was", H1961) — qal narrative form of "to be," the standard formula opening a new narrative unit ("and it came to pass").
• 'acharei ("after", H310A) — construct form governing ha-devarim ha-'elleh ("these things"), marking temporal sequence with the preceding material.
• yomer ("someone said", H0559) — qal narrative, third person masculine singular, with no explicit subject stated in the Hebrew clause itself.
• choleh ("sick", H2470H) — qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing state ("is [in a state of] being sick") rather than a completed action.
• yiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative, third masculine singular, referring back to Joseph as subject, introducing the action of taking his sons.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula va-yehi 'acharei ha-devarim ha-'elleh ("and it was after these things"), a construction that ties this episode to the preceding narrative without specifying exactly which prior events are meant beyond "these things" (ha-devarim ha-'elleh, H1697I + H0428). The subject of yomer ("said") is grammatically unspecified — the Hebrew simply has a third-person verb with no named subject, which functions as an impersonal construction ("one said" / "it was said") introducing the report le-Yosef ("to Joseph", H3130G).

The reported content, hinneh 'avikha choleh ("behold, your father is sick"), is direct speech marked by the interjection hinneh (H2009), and choleh is a participle indicating a present, ongoing condition rather than a punctual event. The final clause shifts back to third-person narrative with va-yiqqach ("and he took"), whose subject is Joseph, taking 'et-shenei vanav 'immo ("his two sons with him", H8147+H1121A), specified by the direct object marker 'et (H0853) before each proper name, Menasheh (H4519G) and 'Efrayim (H0669G).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb yomer ("someone said") is impersonal and active in form, with no stated subject. The LXX renders this with a passive, ἀπηγγέλη ("it was announced"), and the Vulgate similarly uses a passive, nuntiatum est ("it was announced"), both making explicit what the Hebrew leaves grammatically unspecified. The Vulgate further renders the report as indirect discourse (quod aegrotaret, subjunctive "that his father was sick") rather than as the direct quotation preserved in the Hebrew (hinneh 'avikha choleh) and largely kept by the LXX (ὅτι followed by a direct-style statement). The LXX also adds a closing clause, ἦλθεν πρὸς Ἰακώβ ("he went to Jacob"), and the Vulgate adds ire perrexit ("he proceeded to go"), neither of which appears in the Hebrew text as given here, which ends simply with the naming of Manasseh and Ephraim.