Genesis 11:12

Summary

The verse states that Arphaxad lived thirty-five years and then fathered Shelah. It follows the genealogical formula pattern used throughout Genesis 5 and 11, marking age at fatherhood and the name of the son produced.

Key words

• chai ("he lived", H2421) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, denoting a completed state of living up to the point specified.
• chaMesh ("five", H2568) and sheloShim ("thirty", H7970) — cardinal numbers combined via the conjunction u- ("and", H9002) to form "thirty-five," modifying shaNah ("year", H8141), which appears in the singular despite the plural numerical value, a common pattern in Biblical Hebrew numeral constructions.
• vaiYoled ("and he fathered", H3205) — hiphil (causative) verb with narrative vav, indicating that Arphaxad caused Shelah to come into being; the hiphil stem marks the act of begetting as a causative action rather than a simple state.
• 'et- (untranslated object marker, H0853) — signals that Shalach ("Shelah", H7974) is the direct object of the fathering verb, syntactically confirming Shelah as the one begotten.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence has a two-part structure typical of the Genesis genealogies: first a temporal clause stating the father's age using chai ("he lived", H2421) plus the number of years, then a narrative continuation introduced by the vav-consecutive on vaiYoled ("and he fathered", H3205) reporting the birth of the son. The numeral phrase chaMesh u-sheloShim shaNah ("five and thirty year[s]") places the smaller number before the larger, a construction found elsewhere in these genealogical lists, and the noun shaNah remains grammatically singular even though the quantity is plural — a feature of Hebrew numeral syntax rather than a grammatical inconsistency in the text's meaning. The direct object marker 'et- (H0853) before Shalach (H7974) has no independent meaning but grammatically confirms that Shelah is what/whom Arphaxad fathered, distinguishing subject from object in a language where word order alone might not fully clarify roles in a short clause.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Septuagint) gives Arphaxad's age as "ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα πέντε" ("one hundred thirty-five") years, differing numerically from the Hebrew chaMesh u-sheloShim ("thirty-five", H2568/H7970). The LXX also names the son "καινάν" (Kainan), whereas the Hebrew text and the Vulgate both read Shalach/"Sale" ("Shelah", H7974). The Vulgate's "triginta quinque annis" ("thirty-five years") matches the Hebrew numeral, showing agreement with the Masoretic tradition on this point even where it diverges from the LXX.