Genesis 50:22

Summary

The verse states that Joseph remained in Egypt together with his father's household, and records his lifespan as one hundred and ten years. It closes the Joseph narrative with a formulaic notice of residence and age at death.

Key words

• va-Yeshev ("and he remained/dwelt", H3427) — qal narrative form, third person masculine, continuing the story line with "and then he settled."
• Beit ("household of", H1004) — masculine singular construct, linking to the following word to form "household of his father."
• 'Avi ("my/his father", H0001) — construct noun with the pronominal suffix -o ("his"), giving "his father," specifying whose household is meant.
• va-Yechi ("and he lived", H2421) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine, parallel in structure to va-Yeshev, marking the second main clause of the verse.
• shanim ("years", H8141) — masculine plural noun, closing the numerical phrase "one hundred and ten years."

What the text says

The verse is built from two narrative clauses joined by the sequential vav, each opening with a qal verb in the third person masculine: va-Yeshev... va-Yechi... ("and he remained... and he lived..."). This parallel structure creates a two-part closing statement: first Joseph's continued residence in Egypt, then the total span of his life. The subject Yosef ("Joseph", H3130) is repeated in both clauses rather than left implicit, which in Biblical Hebrew narrative style reinforces him as the focus of each statement independently.

The phrase hu' u-veit 'aviv ("he, and the household of his father") uses the independent pronoun hu' ("he", H1931) to emphasize Joseph explicitly before adding the coordinated phrase about his father's household, built through the construct chain beit 'avi + the suffix -o ("his"). The numeral in the second clause, me'ah va-'eser shanim ("hundred and ten years", H3967 + H6235 + H8141), is a compound cardinal number attached to the plural noun shanim ("years"), giving the total figure of Joseph's lifespan.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) expands the phrase "his father's household" into "he and his brothers and all the household of his father" (αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ πᾶσα ἡ πανοικία τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ), adding "brothers" and "all," elements not present in the Hebrew construct phrase beit 'aviv. The Vulgate (Clementine) omits the independent pronoun equivalent to hu' ("he") and instead reads simply "he dwelt in Egypt with all his father's household," while also adding two additional sentences about Ephraim's descendants and Machir's sons that are not part of this Hebrew verse as given.