And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since:

One went out, and you said: A beast devoured him: and hitherto he appeareth not.

and the one went out from me, and I said, He must certainly have been torn in pieces; and I have not seen him again hitherto.

and the one goeth out from me, and I say, Surely he is torn, torn! and I have not seen him since;

The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him,

One went out, and you said, "A beast devoured him." And since then, he has not appeared.

Egressus est unus a me, et dixi, Certe rapiendo raptus est: et non vidi eum hactenus.

And the one went out from, me,.... Being sent by him to see how his brethren did, who were feeding his flocks at Shechem, and he had never returned to him to that day:
and I said, surely he is torn in pieces; by some wild beast; this he said on sight of his coat, being shown him all bloody:
and I saw him not since; now twenty two years ago; for though Joseph was not such a great way off his father, especially if he was at Memphis, as some think; yet what through his confinement as a servant in Potiphar's house, and then for some years in prison, and through the multiplicity of business when advanced in Pharaoh's court, he had no leisure and opportunity of visiting his father; and especially so it was ordered by the providence of God that he should not, that he might be made known at the most proper time for the glory of God, and the good of his family.

ואמר, preceded by a preterite, is to be rendered "and I was obliged to say, Only (nothing but) torn in pieces has he become."