Genesis 10:27

Summary

Genesis 10:27 is a fragment of the genealogical list of the descendants of Joktan, naming three sons: Hadoram (H1913A), Uzal (H0187G), and Diklah (H1853). The verse consists solely of a coordinated sequence of proper names marked as direct objects of a verb (likely "begot") found earlier in the passage.

Key words

• ve ("and", H9002) — the conjunction repeated before each name, creating a paratactic chain that links the three names as coordinate items in a list rather than subordinating one to another.
• 'et ("", H0853) — the direct object marker, repeated before each name; it signals that these names are grammatical objects of a verb (not stated in this verse fragment, but governing the whole list from the preceding context), and it is not translated into English or Spanish.
• ha.do.Ram ("Hadoram", H1913A) — a masculine personal proper name, functioning as the first object in the series.
• 'u.Zal ("Uzal", H0187G) — a masculine personal proper name, the second listed object.
• dik.Lah ("Diklah", H1853) — a masculine personal proper name, the third listed object, closing the verse.

What the text says

The Hebrew verse is structured as three parallel units, each built from the same two-element pattern: conjunction ve ("and", H9002) + object marker 'et ("", H0853) + proper name. This repetition of ve...'et... before every name is a stylistic feature of Hebrew genealogical lists, marking each name individually as a distinct object of the governing verb rather than presenting them as a single undifferentiated group. The object marker 'et has no semantic content of its own; it exists purely to indicate that these names are the direct objects of the verb "to beget" (or similar) that appears earlier in the sentence spanning the preceding verses of the Joktanite genealogy in Genesis 10.

Because the verse contains no verb, no adjectives, and no descriptive material, its sole grammatical content is the sequence of names and their syntactic marking as objects. The repeated ve-'et pattern also produces a rhythmic effect in the Hebrew list that is generally not reproduced in translation, since English and Spanish versions typically render the object marker silently and often reduce or vary the conjunctions.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew names show consonantal differences from the Greek and Latin transliterations. The Hebrew ha.do.Ram ("Hadoram", H1913A) appears in the LXX as Ὀδοππἀ (Odoppa) and in the Vulgate as Aduram, both diverging from the Hebrory initial h- and internal consonants. The Hebrew 'u.Zal ("Uzal", H0187G) is rendered Αἰζὴλ (Aizēl) in the LXX, differing from the Vulgate's closer Uzal. The Hebrew dik.Lah ("Diklah", H1853) appears as Δεκλὰ (Dekla) in the LXX and Decla in the Vulgate, both showing a shift from the Hebrew -ah ending. The object marker 'et (H0853) is not represented in the LXX, Vulgate, or the modern translations, consistent with its function as an untranslatable grammatical marker in Hebrew.