Genesis 37:16
in Genesis 37“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they are feeding the flock.
KJV
And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
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This verse in Genesis 37
Commentary
3 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
a man found him wandering
on Genesis 37:15-17
The account stops to record a man who finds Joseph wandering in the field outside Shechem. The text leaves him nameless and gives him one line, that the brothers had moved on to Dothan. Joseph sets out after them and finds them there.
This site's exposition
I am looking for my brothers
The Hebrew puts the words for his brothers first in Joseph's sentence, ahead of the verb. Shechem was empty when he arrived, and a report of that to his father would have answered the errand. He keeps searching for men who could not wish him peace.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And he said, I seek my brethren,.... Whom, no doubt, he described to the man, and told him who they were, and to whom they belonged; or otherwise the man would have been at a loss to know who he meant, and what further to say to him, and without which Joseph would never have made the following request to him: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks; in what part of the country they are, what field they are in, how far to it, and which the way.
The words behind it
11 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֕אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אַחַ֖י | ʾachai | brothers my | H251 → | 630 times |
| אָנֹכִ֣י | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ | mevakesh | [am] seeking | H1245 → | 225 times |
| הַגִּֽידָה־ | hagidah- | tell ! | H5046 → | 370 times |
| נָּ֣א | na' | please | H4994 → | 404 times |
| לִ֔י | li | to <the> me | ||
| אֵיפֹ֖ה | ʾeifoh | where? | H375 → | |
| הֵ֥ם | hem | [are] they | H1992 → | 553 times |
| רֹעִֽים׃ | roim | pasturing | H7462 → | 177 times |
וַיֹּ֕אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
אַחַ֖יbrothers my
ʾachaiH251 →630 times
אָנֹכִ֣יI
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
מְבַקֵּ֑שׁ[am] seeking
mevakeshH1245 →225 times
הַגִּֽידָה־tell !
hagidah-H5046 →370 times
נָּ֣אplease
na'H4994 →404 times
לִ֔יto <the> me
li
אֵיפֹ֖הwhere?
ʾeifohH375 →
הֵ֥ם[are] they
hemH1992 →553 times
רֹעִֽים׃pasturing
roimH7462 →177 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Luke 19:10For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 34:16
I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a Son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.”
- 1 Timothy 1:13–16
I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man; yet because I had acted in ignorance and unbelief, I was shown mercy.
- Luke 5:31–32
Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
- Luke 15:4–7
“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds…
- Ezekiel 34:16
Through
Song of Solomon 1:7Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday? Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
it leads to
- Song of Solomon 3:1–4
On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.
- Isaiah 13:20
She will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation; no nomad will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flock there.
- Psalms 23:1–2
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
- Song of Solomon 3:1–4
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
On this verse
On this chapter
About Genesis
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.