Exodus 12:40

Summary

The verse states the length of time the Israelites resided in Egypt: the dwelling of the "sons of Israel" in Egypt lasted thirty years plus four hundred years, i.e., a total figure built from two number phrases combined by ve ("and", H9002).

Key words

• mo.Shav ("[the] dwelling of", H4186) — masculine singular construct noun, opening a construct chain that links "dwelling" directly to "sons of Israel"; it names the act/state of residing, not a location itself.
• be.Nei ("[the] people of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct of "sons," forming with Yisra'el the phrase "sons of Israel," the subject whose dwelling is being measured.
• ya.she.Vu ("they dwelt", H3427) — qal perfect, third person plural, marking a completed action; the relative clause 'asher yashevu ("which they dwelt") modifies "the sons of Israel," specifying that they are the ones who resided in Egypt.
• she.lo.Shim ("[was] thirty", H7970) — cardinal number, masculine plural, the first numeral in the total, paired with shanah ("year", H8141).
• 'ar.Ba' ("four", H0702) — cardinal number in construct form, governing me'ot ("hundreds", H3967, feminine plural), together forming "four hundred," joined to the first number by ve ("and", H9002).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a construct chain: mo.Shav be.Nei Yisra'el ("the dwelling of the sons of Israel") functions as the subject, further specified by the relative clause 'asher yashevu be-Mitzrayim ("which they dwelt in Egypt"). The predicate of the sentence is the number phrase that follows: sheloshim shanah ve-'arba' me'ot shanah ("thirty years and four hundred years"). Grammatically, this is two separate numeral-noun units — "thirty year" and "four hundred year" — joined by the conjunction ve, rather than a single fused numeral; Biblical Hebrew commonly states compound numbers by listing units and then hundreds, each with its own repetition of shanah ("year", H8141). The noun mo.Shav denotes the dwelling/residing itself as an abstract state, and the perfect verb yashevu frames the residence as a completed past action from the narrator's vantage point.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the clause with an added geographical specification not present in the Hebrew: κατῴκησαν ἐν γῇ Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἐν γῇ Χανάαν ("they dwelt in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan"), where the Hebrew states only be-Mitzrayim ("in Egypt", H4714G). The LXX also gives the total as τετρακόσια τριάκοντα πέντε ("four hundred thirty-five"), while the Hebrew's sheloshim... ve-'arba' me'ot ("thirty... and four hundred") totals 430, matching the Vulgate's quadringentorum triginta annorum ("four hundred and thirty years").