Genesis 11:18

וַֽיְחִי־פֶלֶג שְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד אֶת־רְעֽוּ׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַֽיְחִי־פֶ֖לֶג שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֖וֹלֶד אֶת־רְעֽוּ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ ἔζησεν Φόλεκ ἑκατὸν τριόκοντα ὄη, καὶ ἐγέννησεν τὸν Ῥαγαύ.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Vixit quoque Phaleg triginta annis, et genuit Reu.

Spanish

Péleg tenía treinta años cuando fue padre de Reu.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y vivió Peleg treinta años, y engendró á Reu.

English

When Peleg was 30 years old, he became the father of Reu.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse states that Peleg lived thirty years and then fathered Reu, continuing the genealogical chain from Shem through the post-Babel line in Genesis 11.

Key words

y.chi- ("he lived", H2421) — qal verb in narrative (vav-consecutive) form, marking the sequential report of Peleg's lifespan before the birth notice.
Fe.leg ("Peleg", H6389) — proper name, masculine singular, subject of the first verb.
she.lo.Shim ("thirty", H7970) — cardinal number, masculine plural, modifying the following noun of years.
sha.Nah ("year[s]", H8141) — feminine singular noun used here in a construct-like numerical phrase to express age.
i.Yo.led ("he fathered", H3205) — hiphil (causative) verb, narrative form, indicating that Peleg caused Reu to be born, i.e., became his father.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the standard genealogical formula found throughout Genesis 11: a narrative verb of living (y.chi-, H2421) followed by the subject's name, a number of years, and a second narrative verb of begetting (i.Yo.led, H3205) followed by the direct object marker 'et- (H0853) and the name of the son. The use of the hiphil stem for i.Yo.led frames the act of fathering as a causative action — Peleg is the agent who brings about Reu's existence as an offspring, a grammatical pattern consistent across the genealogy.

The number she.lo.Shim ("thirty", H7970) combined with sha.Nah ("year", H8141) gives Peleg's age at the time of Reu's birth. The singular form of sha.Nah after a plural cardinal number reflects the common Hebrew construction for expressing ages, where the noun for "year" remains singular even when paired with a plural numeral. The direct object marker 'et- (H0853) preceding re.'U ("Reu", H7466) has no independent lexical meaning; it simply signals that Reu is the grammatical object of the fathering verb.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text gives Peleg's age as she.lo.Shim ("thirty", H7970), matching the Vulgate's "triginta annis" and the Reina-Valera's "treinta años." The Septuagint (LXXSWETE), however, renders the number as ἑκατὸν τριόκοντα, "one hundred thirty" years, diverging from the Hebrew figure of thirty. The name re.'U ("Reu", H7466) appears in the LXX as Ῥαγαύ, a transliteration variant reflecting Greek phonological adaptation of the Hebrew name.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.