Genesis 50:12

Summary

The verse states that the sons of Jacob acted toward him exactly as he had instructed them, closing the account of compliance with a paternal command. The sentence uses a simple past narrative form followed by a comparison clause affirming exact correspondence between action and instruction.

Key words

• va-ya'asu ("and they did", H6213A) — qal narrative form; marks the next event in the story sequence ("and then they did...").
• vanav ("his sons", H1121A) — plural construct noun with 3ms suffix; identifies the subject as "sons of him," linking back to the antecedent (Jacob) established earlier in the narrative.
• ken ("thus", H3651C) — adverb marking manner; sets up the comparison that follows.
• ka'asher ("as", H0834D) — relative particle combined with preposition ka ("just"); introduces the standard against which the sons' action is measured.
• tzivvam ("he had commanded them", H6680) — piel perfect verb with 3mp suffix; the piel stem intensifies the sense of formal instruction/command, and the perfect aspect marks it as an action completed prior to the sons' response.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is built as an action-plus-comparison structure: va-ya'asu vanav lo ken ("and his sons did for him thus") is followed by ka'asher tzivvam ("as he had commanded them"). The word ken ("thus") functions as a placeholder that the following ka'asher clause then defines — the text first states that an action matched a standard, then specifies what that standard was. This creates a rhetorical closure: the sons' behavior is presented as fully congruent with the prior command, with no elaboration on what the command contained, since it was already narrated earlier in the chapter.

The verb tzivvam uses the piel stem of tzavah ("to command", H6680), which in Hebrew regularly denotes formal or authoritative instruction rather than casual suggestion. The perfect aspect indicates the commanding had already occurred before the sons' compliance narrated here, reinforcing a before-and-after relationship between instruction and fulfillment.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) adds καὶ ἔθαψαν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ ("and they buried him there"), a clause with no corresponding words in the Hebrew text of this verse; the Hebrew states only that the sons acted according to command, without specifying burial here. The Vulgate renders vanav ("his sons") as filii Jacob ("sons of Jacob"), making explicit the antecedent that the Hebrew leaves implicit through the pronominal suffix on vanav.