Genesis 41:13

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: he restored me to my office, and he hanged him."

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

Septuagint runs longer here — compare

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פָּֽתַר

pâthar

H6622

“to interpret”

Verb, Qal, Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 9× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 40:8

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1860

(Qal) to interpret (dreams)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

12: words
9: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is פָּֽתַר to interpret H6622 — appearing just 9 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

פָּֽתַר to interpret H6622 occurs in 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

5 verbs
1 noun
2 prepositions
4 particles

Verb forms

וַיְהִ֛י Qal · Sequential Imperfect
פָּֽתַר Qal · Perfect
הָיָ֑ה Qal · Perfect
הֵשִׁ֥יב Hiphil · Perfect
תָלָֽה Qal · Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וַיְהִ֛י to be H1961 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 20 words from the Hebrew and 28 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably longer here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 12 Hebrew tokens and 19 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Genesis 41:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 40:12 Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it: the three branches are three days.
Genesis 40:20–22 It happened the third day, which was Pharaoh's birthday, that he made a feast for all his servants, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
Jeremiah 1:10 behold, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.
Ezekiel 43:3 It was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw, even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city; and the visions were like the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably longer than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 28 words vs World English Bible 20. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 41:13 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיְהִ֛י כַּאֲשֶׁ֥ר פָּֽתַר לָ֖נוּ כֵּ֣ן הָיָ֑ה אֹתִ֛י הֵשִׁ֥יב עַל כַּנִּ֖י וְאֹת֥וֹ תָלָֽה

It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: he restored me to my office, and he hanged him."

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 41:13 Septuagint · lemma form

γίγνομαι δέ καθώς συνκρίνω ἐγώ οὕτως καί συνβαίνω ἐγώ τε ἀπο καταἵστημι ἐπί ὁ ἀρχή ἐγώ ἐκεῖνος δέ κρεμάζω

And it came to pass, as he interpreted them to us, so also it happened, both that I was restored to my office, and that he was hanged.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וַהֲוָה כְּמָא דִּי פָשַׁר לָנָא כֵּן הֲוָה יָתִי אֲתֵיב עַל שִׁמּוּשִׁי וְיָתֵהּ צְלָב

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וַהֲוָה הֵיכְמָא דְפָשַׁר לָנָא כְּדֵין הֲוָה יָתִי אוֹתִיב בְּמִילֵיהּ עַל סֵדֶר שִׁימוּשֵׁי וְיָתֵיהּ צְלָב

And even as he interpreted to us so it was; me he restored in his sentence to the order of my service, and him he hanged.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 41:13 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Gen 41:13 And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he restored unto mine office, and him he hanged.

Ver. 13. As he interpreted to us, so it was.] Similiarily: as Christ foretold the two thieves with whom he suffered, so it happened; the one went to heaven, the other to hell. And so it shall fare with all men at the last day, according to Isa 3:10-11.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joseph Benson's Commentary

Gen 41:13. Me he restored unto mine office — That is, Joseph foretold his restoration to his office, and the execution of the other. Thus Jeremiah is said to pull down and destroy those nations, whose downfall and destruction he only foretold, Jer 1:10.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

13. me he restored … and him he hanged] R.V. marg. I was restored … and he was hanged. Probably, the construction in the original is impersonal, i.e. “me they restored, and him they hanged.” In addressing Pharaoh, and in alluding to Pharaoh’s actions, this impersonal use of the 3rd pers. sing. is doubtless the language of etiquette.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was,.... The event answered to the interpretation, and showed it to be right; this is frequently hinted and repeated, to show the exactness and certainty of the interpretation given, in order to recommend Joseph to Pharaoh the more:

me he restored unto my office, and him he hanged: that is, Joseph interpreted the butler's dream to such a sense, that he should be restored to his butlership, and accordingly he was; and the baker's dream, that he should be hanged, and so he was. Aben Ezra and Jarchi interpret this of Pharaoh, that he restored the one, and hanged the other, or ordered these things to be done, which answered to Joseph's interpretation of the dreams; but the former sense seems best, for Joseph is the person immediately spoken of in the preceding clause; nor would it have been so decent for the butler, in the presence of Pharaoh, to have spoken of him without naming him, and which would have been contrary to his usage before.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Me he restored; either,

1. Pharaoh. But then he would have mentioned either his name or title, and not have spoken so slightly and indecently of him. Or rather,

2. Joseph, of whom he spake last, and who is here said to restore the one, and to hang the other, because he foretold those events, as Jeremiah is said to pull down and destroy those nations, Jer 1:10, whose destruction he did only foretell.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

השיב על כני HE RESTORED UNTO MY OFFICE — he means Pharaoh who was mentioned before, where it is said (v. 10) “Pharaoh was wroth with his servants”. The phrase is elliptical not stating explicitly who restored, for it is not necessary to state explicitly who restored: obviously he who has the power to restore viz, Pharaoh. This is the ease with all elliptical sentences — they leave the matter indefinite as to who has to do the action (i.e. they omit the subject of the verb).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 12 words (9 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is pâthar (“to interpret”). The Greek Septuagint runs longer here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “to interpret” (pâthar) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Genesis 40:8, which shares the word «to interpret», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to be” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The Septuagint runs longer here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַיְהִ֛י» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Joseph Benson's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 12 Hebrew ↔ 19 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“to be” occurs 2× in this single verse.
9 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 12 words in this verse.