Genesis 44:6

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וַֽיַּשִּׂגֵ֑ם

nâsag

H5381

“and · to overtake · them”

Conjunction + Verb, Hiphil, Sequential Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular + Suffix, Personal, 3rd Person, Masculine, Plural

Appears 50× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 31:25

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1422

to reach, overtake, take hold upon - (Hiphil) - to overtake - to reach, attain to, cause to reach - to be able to secure, reach, have enough

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 →

6: words
6: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וַֽיַּשִּׂגֵ֑ם to overtake H5381 occurs in 47 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
1 noun
1 pronoun
1 preposition
1 particle

Verb forms

וַֽיַּשִּׂגֵ֑ם Hiphil · Sequential Imperfect
וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר Piel · Sequential Imperfect

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 10 words from the Hebrew and 12 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 6 Hebrew tokens and 9 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.

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 44:6 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַֽיַּשִּׂגֵ֑ם וַיְדַבֵּ֣ר אֲלֵהֶ֔ם אֶת הַדְּבָרִ֖ים הָאֵֽלֶּה

He overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 44:6 Septuagint · lemma form

εὑρίσκω δέ αὐτός εἶπον αὐτός κατά ὁ ῥῆμα οὗτος

And he found them, and spoke to them according to these words.

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)

וְאַדְבֵּיקִנּוּן וּמַלֵּיל עִמְּהוֹן יָת פִּתְגָּמַיָּא הָאִלֵּין

(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)

וְאַדְבִּיקִינוּן וּמַלֵיל עִמְהוֹן יַת כָּל פִּתְגָמַיָא הָאִילֵין

And he overtook them, and spake with them all these words.

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 44:6 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 44:6 And he overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.

Ver. 6. And he spake.] {See Trapp on "Gen 44:2"} {See Trapp on "Gen 43:17"}

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

he overtook them, and he spake . . . these words--The steward's words must have come upon them like a thunderbolt, and one of their most predominant feelings must have been the humiliating and galling sense of being made so often objects of suspicion. Protesting their innocence, they invited a search. The challenge was accepted [Gen 44:10-11]. Beginning with the eldest, every sack was examined, and the cup being found in Benjamin's [Gen 44:12], they all returned in an indescribable agony of mind to the house of the governor [Gen 44:13], throwing themselves at his feet [Gen 44:14], with the remarkable confession, "God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants" [Gen 44:16].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

John Gill's Exposition

And he overtook them,.... Their asses being laden with corn could not travel very fast, and he and his attendants being mounted on swift horses:

and he spake unto them these same words; that Joseph had ordered him to say, and so what follows particularly, Gen 44:10.

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

The Pulpit Commentary

And he (i.e. the steward) overtook them, and he spake unto them these same words.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

spoke these words to them

"spoke what Joseph told him to say"

Why does my master speak such words as these?

Here "words" stands for what was said. The brothers refer to the steward as "my master." This is a formal way of speaking to someone with greater authority. It can be stated in the second person. AT: "Why are you saying this, my master?" (See: Metonymy and First, Second, or Third Person)

Far be it from your servants that they would do such a thing.

The brothers refer to themselves as "your servants" and "they." This is a formal way of speaking to someone with greater authority. AT: "We would never do such a thing!" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

Far be it from your servants

Something that a person would never do is spoken of as if it were an object that person wants to put very far from himself. (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

manager

word

lord

servant

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

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 6 words (6 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is nâsag (“to overtake”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to overtake” (nâsag) shape what this verse is saying?
Genesis 31:25 shares the word «to overtake» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
The verb «וַֽיַּשִּׂגֵ֑ם» is Hiphil Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 6 Hebrew ↔ 9 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 3 words in this verse.
6 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 6 words in this verse.