אֶ֤רֶץ מִצְרַ֙יִם֙ לְפָנֶ֣יךָ הִ֔וא בְּמֵיטַ֣ב הָאָ֔רֶץ הוֹשֵׁ֥ב אֶת־אָבִ֖יךָ וְאֶת־אַחֶ֑יךָ יֵשְׁבוּ֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ גֹּ֔שֶׁן וְאִם־יָדַ֗עְתָּ וְיֶשׁ־בָּם֙ אַנְשֵׁי־חַ֔יִל וְשַׂמְתָּ֛ם שָׂרֵ֥י מִקְנֶ֖ה עַל־אֲשֶׁר־לִֽי׃

the land of Egypt is open before you: settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them stay in the region of Goshen. And if you know some men of ability among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

(The above rendering comes from the RJPS translation, an adaptation of the NJPS translation. Before accounting for this rendering, I will analyze the plain sense of the Hebrew term containing אִישׁ—in this case its plural form אֲנָשִׁים—by employing a situation-oriented construal as outlined in this introduction, pp. 11–16.)


The clause is יֶשׁ־בָּם אַנְשֵׁי־חַיִל, which schematically frames a desired situation that is defined by its essential participants. The noun אֲנָשִׁים relates its referent to that depicted situation, while the construct form relates them to the desired quality.

This is a prototypical usage of אִישׁ as a situating noun. The referent’s gender is not at issue.


As for rendering into English, the NJPS ‘any capable men nowadays puts undue focus on gender, while the modifier “any” presupposes a preference against finding any, which is the opposite of the speaker’s intent. The revised rendering preserves the situating quality of the English men.