Genesis 50:17

Summary

The brothers of Joseph send him a message, through intermediaries, begging him to forgive the wrong they did to him, invoking the fact that they are "servants of the God of your father." Upon hearing this message relayed to him, Joseph weeps.

Key words

• koh ("thus", H3541) — adverb introducing direct speech; marks the boundary of the quoted message the brothers instruct be delivered to Joseph.
• 'anna' ("we beg you", H0577) — an interjection of entreaty, appearing before the imperative, intensifying the plea.
• sa' ("forgive/lift/bear", H5375) — qal imperative, second person masculine singular; repeated twice in the verse (once addressed regarding "the transgression of your brothers," once regarding "the transgression of the servants of the God of your father").
• pesha' ("transgression of", H6588) — masculine singular construct noun, appearing twice in construct chains, each time governing a different genitive ("your brothers" / "the servants of the God of your father").
• chatta'tam ("their sin", H2403 + suffix H9028) — feminine singular construct noun with third-person plural suffix, joined by ve- ("and") to the first pesha' phrase.

What the text says

The verse opens with koh tomeru le-Yosef ("thus you will say to Joseph"), a formula introducing reported speech — the brothers are giving instructions to messengers about exactly what to say to Joseph, rather than speaking to him directly in this clause. Inside that speech, the plea is doubled: pesha' 'acheykha ("the transgression of your brothers") uses a second-person suffix ("your"), while the parallel phrase chatta'tam ("their sin") uses a third-person suffix ("their"), even though both refer to the same brothers — a shift in grammatical person within a single construct pairing.

The imperative sa' ("forgive," literally "lift" or "bear," H5375) occurs twice, each followed by the particle na' ("please", H4994), reinforcing the request. In the first instance, the object is pesha' 'acheykha ve-chatta'tam ("the transgression of your brothers and their sin"). In the second, following ve-'attah ("and now", H6258), the object shifts to pesha' 'avdei 'elohei 'avikha ("the transgression of the servants of the God of your father") — a construct chain nesting four elements (transgression → servants → God → father), which reframes the brothers not by name but by their relationship to their father's God. The final clause uses an infinitive construct, be-dabram 'elav ("in their speaking to him", H1696), marking the temporal circumstance of Joseph's weeping — the weeping occurs during or upon the act of their speaking.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew uses the same verb sa' (H5375) in both imperative requests. The LXX renders the first occurrence as Ἄφες ("let go/forgive") and the second as δέξαι ("receive/accept"), using two different Greek verbs for the repeated Hebrew imperative. The Vulgate similarly varies its rendering, using obliviscaris ("that you forget") for the first request and dimittas ("that you release/forgive") for the second, rather than repeating one verb as the Hebrew does.