Genesis 44:22

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex) Genesis 44:22 appears in the Hebrew Old Testament. The text above is from the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Each word links to its Strong’s number, a concise gloss, and parsing drawn from the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible morphology. Click any word for its full Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB) entry.
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Genesis 44:22 (World English Bible). Public Domain. Lemma interlinear Bible study tool, https://lemma.gebible.app/v/genesis/44/22.

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English Translation
We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
World English Bible · Public Domain
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Compare translations 3

The same verse in 3 English versions, stacked beneath the original-language interlinear above. Click any original word for its lexicon entry.

Each is an independent rendering of the whole verse — the interlinear is not word-aligned to these translations.

Highlighted words mark where these versions differ — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And we said to my lord, ‘The young man is not able to leave his father, because he leaves his father, then he will die.’

unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult).

Versions to compare (up to 4)

3 of 4 selected

Show all 18 translations

Every available English version of this verse, each an independent rendering of the whole verse.

  • World English Bible Public Domain
    We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'
  • Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
    So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
  • Majority Standard Bible Public Domain
    So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’
  • King James Version Public Domain
    And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
  • American Standard Version (1901) Public Domain
    And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
  • Revised Version (1885) Public Domain
    And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
  • Geneva Bible (1599) Public Domain
    And we answered my lord, The childe can not depart from his father: for if he leaue his father, his father would die.
  • Douay-Rheims (1899) Public Domain
    We suggested to my lord: The boy cannot leave his father: for if he leave him, he will die.
  • Young's Literal Translation Public Domain
    and we say unto my lord, The youth is not able to leave his father, when he hath left his father, then he hath died;
  • Literal Standard Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    and we say to my lord, The youth is not able to leave his father, when he has left his father, then he has died;
  • Unlocked Literal Bible CC BY-SA 4.0
    After that, we said to my master, 'The boy cannot leave his father. For if he should leave his father his father would die.'
  • unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
    And we said to my lord, ‘The young man is not able to leave his father, because he leaves his father, then he will die.’
  • Darby Bible Public Domain
    And we said to my lord, The youth cannot leave his father: if he should leave his father, [his father] would die.
  • World Messianic Bible Public Domain
    We said to my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’
  • Webster's Bible Public Domain
    And we said to my lord, The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die.
  • Free Bible Version CC BY-SA 4.0
    We told you, ‘The boy can't leave his father; if he did, his father would die.’
  • Bible in Basic English Public Domain
    And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death.
  • JPS Tanakh (1917) Public Domain
    And we said unto my lord: The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

Literal Standard Version (2020), Covenant Press — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). Unlocked Literal Bible (unfoldingWord) — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org). unfoldingWord Literal Text — © unfoldingWord, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Word-aligned USFM3 via Door43 (git.door43.org/unfoldingWord/en_ult). Free Bible Version, Dr. Jonathan Gallagher — licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API (eBible.org).

Word by word

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יוּכַ֥ל
yâkôl
H3201
“to prevail”
Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
Part of Speech
Verb
Stem
Qal
Form
Imperfect
Person
3rd Person
Gender
Masculine
Number
Singular
Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 866

to prevail, overcome, endure, have power, be able - (Qal) - to be able, be able to gain or accomplish, be able to endure, be able to reach - to prevail, prevail over or against, overcome, be victor - to have ability, have strength
  1. וַנֹּ֨אמֶר֙ ʼâmar H559 “and · to say” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Imperfect, 1st Person, Common, Plural
  2. אֶל ʼêl H413 “to” Preposition
  3. אֲדֹנִ֔י ʼâdôwn H113 “lord · my” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 1st Person, Common, Singular
  4. לֹא lôʼ H3808 “not” Particle, Negative
  5. הַנַּ֖עַר naʻar H5288 “the · boy” Particle, Definite Article + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute
  6. לַעֲזֹ֣ב ʻâzab H5800 “to leave” Preposition + Verb, Qal, Infinitive Construct
  7. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  8. אָבִ֑יו ʼâb H1 “father · his” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  9. וְעָזַ֥ב ʻâzab H5800 “and · to leave” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  10. אֶת ʼêth H853 “-” Particle, Direct Object
  11. אָבִ֖יו ʼâb H1 “father · his” Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular
  12. וָמֵֽת mûwth H4191 “and · to die” Conjunction + Verb, Qal, Sequential Perfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

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 →

13
words
10
distinct lemmas
Pentateuch
section

Grammatical profile

  • 5 verbs
  • 4 nouns
  • 1 preposition
  • 3 particles

Verb forms

  • וַנֹּ֨אמֶר֙ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
  • יוּכַ֥ל Qal · Imperfect
  • לַעֲזֹ֣ב Qal · Infinitive Construct
  • וְעָזַ֥ב Qal · Sequential Perfect
  • וָמֵֽת Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

  • לַעֲזֹ֣ב to leave H5800 ×2
  • אָבִ֑יו father H1 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 22 words from the Hebrew and 26 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

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 13 Hebrew tokens and 17 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

2

Topical passages linked to Genesis 44:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

  • Genesis 42:38 He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him by the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."
  • Genesis 44:30 Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life;

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 44:22 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַנֹּ֨אמֶר֙ אֶל אֲדֹנִ֔י לֹא יוּכַ֥ל הַנַּ֖עַר לַעֲזֹ֣ב אֶת אָבִ֑יו וְעָזַ֥ב אֶת אָבִ֖יו וָמֵֽת

We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 44:22 Septuagint · lemma form

καί εἶπον ὁ κύριος οὐ δύναμαι ὁ παιδίον καταλείπω ὁ πατήρ ἐάν δέ καταλείπω ὁ πατήρ ἀποθνήσκω

And we said to my lord, The child will not be able to leave his father; but if he should leave his father, he will die.

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)

2

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.

  1. Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַאֲמַרְנָא לְרִבּוֹנִי לָא יִכּוּל עוּלֵימָא לְמִשְׁבַּק יָת אֲבוּהִי וְאִם יִשְׁבּוֹק יָת אֲבוּהִי וּמִית

    (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.

  2. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)
    וַאֲמַרְנָא לְרִבּוֹנִי לֵית אֶפְשַׁר לְטַלְיָא לְמִשְׁבּוֹק יַת אָבוֹי דְאִין שָׁבִיק יַת אָבוֹי מַיִית הוּא

    But we told my lord, The youth cannot leave his father: for if he leave his father, he will die.

    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 44:22 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 44:22 And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for [if] he should leave his father, [his father] would die.

Ver. 22. {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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

22. And we said, &c.] The substance of this verse expresses more than Gen_42:20 (E). The expostulation here mentioned is not there recorded.

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 we said unto my lord, the lad cannot leave his father,.... That is, his father will not be willing to part with him:

for if he should leave his father, his father would die; with grief and trouble, fearing some evil was befallen him, and he should see him no more.

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

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

ועזב את אביו ומת FOR IF HE SHOULD LEAVE HIS FATHER, HE WOULD DIE — If he leaves his father we shall be in anxiety lest he die on the journey, because indeed his mother died during a journey.

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.

Ramban (Nachmanides)

Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides)

AND WE SAID UNTO MY LORD: THE LAD CANNOT LEAVE HIS FATHER; FOR IF HE SHOULD LEAVE HIS FATHER, HE WOULD DIE. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained this to mean “and his father would die.” But if so, Judah would have said: “Our father cannot leave his son, for if he should leave his son, he [the father] would die.” Or he should have said, “We cannot bear that the lad leave the father,” for they would not make the plea for compassion for their father dependent upon the lad, [saying, as the verse has it. ‘The lad’ cannot leave his father for if he should leave his father, he would die], since they considered him as a child who did not know the difference between good and evil. [Therefore, if it be as Ibn Ezra says, i.e., that the concern in this verse is lest the father die, they would have said, “We cannot bear that the lad should leave his father,” or “Our father cannot leave his son.”] Rather, the meaning is: The lad cannot leave his father on account of his youth and his being the darling son in the lap of his father who loves him, and if he should leave him and come on the journey the lad would die.

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 13 words (10 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is yâkôl (“to prevail”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

  1. How does “to prevail” (yâkôl) shape what this verse is saying?
  2. Genesis 42:38 shares this passage’s theme. How do the two illuminate each other?
  3. “to leave” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
  4. These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
  5. The verb «וַנֹּ֨אמֶר֙» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
  6. Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

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