Genesis 44:21

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Word by word

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הוֹרִדֻ֖הוּ

yârad

H3381

“go down · him”

Verb, Hiphil, Imperative, 2nd Person, Masculine, Plural + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 381× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 11:5

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 909

to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down - (Qal) - to go or come down - to sink - to be prostrated - to come down (of revelation) - (Hiphil) - to bring down - to send down - to take down - to lay prostrate - to let down - (Hophal) - to be brought down - to be taken down

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 →

8: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
2 nouns
3 prepositions

Verb forms

וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
הוֹרִדֻ֖הוּ Hiphil · Imperative
וְאָשִׂ֥ימָה Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

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

אֶל to H413 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 18 words from the Hebrew and 18 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

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 8 Hebrew tokens and 12 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 44:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 42:15 Hereby you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother come here.
Genesis 42:20 Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die." They did so.
Genesis 43:29 He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son."
Jeremiah 24:6 For I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
Jeremiah 40:4 Now, behold, I loose you this day from the chains which are on your hand. If it seem good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I will look well to you; but if it seem ill to you to come with me into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before you; where it seems good and right to you to go, there go.
Amos 9:4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.

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.

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

Hebrew Genesis 44:21 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל עֲבָדֶ֔יךָ הוֹרִדֻ֖הוּ אֵלָ֑י וְאָשִׂ֥ימָה עֵינִ֖י עָלָֽיו

You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 44:21 Septuagint · lemma form

εἶπον δέ ὁ παῖς σύ καταἄγω αὐτός πρός ἐγώ καί ἐπιμελέομαι αὐτός

And you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, and I will take care of him.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, John Gill's Exposition discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

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)

וַאֲמַרְתָּ לְעַבְדָּיךְ אֲחִיתוֹהִי לְוָתִי וֶאֱשַׁוֵּי עֵינִי עֲלוֹהִי

(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)

וַאֲמַרְתְּ לְעַבְדָךְ אַחְתוֹהִי לְוָתִי וַאֲשַׁוֵי עֵינוֹי לְטַבְתָא עֲלוֹי

And thou saidst to thy servants, Bring him down to me, and I will set mine eyes on him for good.

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 44:21 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 44:21 And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.

Ver. 21. {See Trapp on "Gen 44:19"}

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.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

Or, that I may see him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

21. that I may … upon him] The phrase probably means something more than merely seeing Benjamin. It may indicate favourable protection, as in Psa_33:18; Psa_34:15.

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 thou saidst unto thy servants, bring him down unto me,.... Judah does not relate the reason of his order, which was to give proof that they were no spies, but as if Joseph designed to show favour to Benjamin, as undoubtedly he did:

that I may set mine eyes upon him; not barely see him, as Aben Ezra interprets it, though that would be, and was, very desirable by him, and agreeable to him; but he desired to set his eyes upon him, not only for his own pleasure, but for the good of Benjamin, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; he intimated that he should receive him kindly, show favour unto him, and use him well: the Septuagint version is, "and I will take care of him": Joseph's brethren had told him, that Benjamin was at home with their father, who they suggested was afraid to let him go with them, lest evil should befall him; wherefore to encourage him to let him go with them, Joseph promised to take care of him, that no hurt should be done to him, but he should be provided with everything that was proper and necessary; and this Judah improves into an argument with the governor in favour of Benjamin, that since he desired his coming, in order to show him a kindness, he hoped he would not detain him, and make a slave of him.

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

i.e. See him with my own eyes, and thereby be satisfied of the truth of what you say. Compare Gen 42:15,16. Elsewhere this phrase signifies to show favour to a person, as Jer 39:12; 40:4. But though that was Joseph’s intention, as yet he was minded to conceal it from them.

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

Keil & Delitzsch

C. F. Keil & F. Delitzsch

To "set eyes upon him" signifies, with a gracious intention, to show him good-will (as in Jer 39:12; Jer 40:4).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Ramban (Nachmanides)

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides)

THAT I MAY SET MINE EYES UPON HIM. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra said that the meaning thereof is “that I may see him.” But I have not found “setting of eyes” in Scripture in reference to just seeing. Thus: And I will set Mine eyes upon them for good; Take him, and put your eye upon him, and do him no harm, 39:12. for Nebuchadrezzar did not command Nebuzaradan to merely see Jeremiah after he took him into custody, but to watch him and treat him well. But the meaning here is that Joseph had vowed to them to have pity on the lad and to guard him, even though it is not mentioned explicitly [in the narrative of the original confrontation between Joseph and his brothers], just as Scripture is concise there about all these matters which Judah related in Joseph’s presence. Now Judah did not mention the imprisonment of Simeon and the pretext that Ye are spies, out of respect or out of the fear of majesty.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (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 8 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yârad (“to go down”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word yârad carries the sense “to go down.” How does it shape the verse?
How does Genesis 42:15, which shares this passage’s theme, read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«וַתֹּ֨אמֶר֙» is a Qal Sequential Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 12 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 7 words in this verse.
“to” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.