Genesis 50:5

Summary

Joseph reports to Pharaoh's court the oath his father Jacob made him swear before dying: to bury him in the tomb Jacob had dug for himself in the land of Canaan. Joseph then requests permission to go up, bury his father, and return.

Key words

• hishbi'A ("he made swear an oath", H7650) — Hiphil (causative) perfect: Jacob is the causative agent making Joseph swear, not merely asking him.
• met ("about to die", H4191) — Qal participle, masculine singular: presents dying as a present/imminent state ("I am [one who is] dying") rather than a simple future verb.
• kaRiti ("I dug", H3738B) — Qal perfect, 1st person: a completed past action, describing the tomb Jacob had already prepared for himself.
• tikbeReni ("you will bury me", H6912) — Qal imperfect, 2nd masculine singular with 1st person suffix: expresses Jacob's directive to Joseph as an ongoing/future obligation.
• 'e'eleh ("let me go up", H5927G) — Qal imperfect 1st person with the particle na' ("please", H4994) attached: a volitional/request form, softened by the following particle.

What the text says

The verse is built around Joseph's reported speech, embedded within his own present request to Pharaoh. The first clause, 'aVi hishbi'Ani leMor ("my father made me swear, saying"), uses the Hiphil of shava to mark the oath as something imposed by Jacob upon Joseph, a grammatical detail that frames everything following as binding testimony rather than casual wish. Jacob's own words then open with hiNeh 'anoKhi met ("here, I am dying"), where the participle met gives the statement immediacy — Jacob speaks as though already in the act of dying, not merely predicting a future death.

The location of burial is specified through a construct chain: be-kivRi ("in my grave") is further defined by the relative clause 'asher kaRiti li ("which I dug for myself"), a Qal perfect indicating the tomb was already completed at a prior time, located be-'Eretz Kena'an ("in the land of Canaan"). The adverb shaMah ("there") repeats the location before the imperfect verb tikbeReni ("you will bury me"), reinforcing the directive nature of Jacob's instruction.

The final section shifts to Joseph's own voice: 'e'eleh na' ("let me go up, please") combines an imperfect verb with the particle na', softening the request as deferential rather than a plain assertion. The two following infinitives, 'ekbeRah ("I may bury") and 'ashuVah ("I will return"), continue this cohortative sense despite being glossed as infinitives in the table, expressing Joseph's sequential intentions: to go up, bury, and return.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew be-kivRi 'asher kaRiti ("in my grave which I dug") as en tō mnēmeiō hō ōryxa ("in the tomb which I dug"), using mnēmeion ("tomb/memorial") rather than a direct equivalent for "grave," a lexical shift rather than a structural one. The Vulgate's in sepulchro meo, quod fodi mihi closely mirrors the Hebrew construct chain and relative clause. Where the Hebrew has three separate final verbs ('e'eleh, 'ekbeRah, 'ashuVah), the LXX compresses the sequence with anabas thapsō... kai apeleusomai ("having gone up, I will bury... and I will depart"), subordinating the "going up" as a participle rather than a coordinate verb.