Genesis 11:19

Summary

The verse states that Peleg lived 209 years after fathering Reu, and during that time he fathered additional sons and daughters. It follows the standard genealogical formula used throughout Genesis 11.

Key words

• va-y'chi ("and he lived", H2421) — qal narrative form with the vav-consecutive, marking the sequential note "and he lived [X years]" that opens each entry in this genealogy.
• acharei ("after", H0310A) — construct form introducing the temporal clause that anchors the count of years to the birth of Reu.
• holido ("his fathering", H3205) — hiphil infinitive with the pronominal suffix o ("his"), literally "in his causing-to-be-born," referring to the birth of Reu.
• tesha' shanim u-matayim shanah ("nine years and two hundred years", H8672/H8141/H3967) — the numeral phrase giving the total span, with shanim plural and shanah singular used according to standard Hebrew numeral-noun agreement.
• va-yoled ("and he fathered", H3205) — hiphil narrative form (vav-consecutive) describing the ongoing/repeated act of fathering after Reu's birth, parallel in form to holido but finite rather than infinitive.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built in two parts joined by the narrative vav-chain typical of the Genesis 5 and 11 genealogies. The first part, va-y'chi Feleg acharei holido et-Re'u tesha' shanim u-matayim shanah, states that Peleg lived a specific span of years measured after ("acharei", H0310A) the event denoted by the hiphil infinitive holido ("his fathering", H3205) — this infinitive construction with the pronominal suffix places the birth of Reu as the temporal reference point, not as a main clause action itself. The numeral phrase tesha' shanim u-matayim shanah ("nine years and two hundred years") uses the plural noun shanim with the smaller number nine and the singular shanah with the larger number two hundred, a pattern typical of Hebrew numeral-noun syntax in this genealogical formula.

The second clause, va-yoled banim u-vanot ("and he fathered sons and daughters"), uses the same hiphil root as holido but in finite narrative form, continuing the vav-chain of the sentence. Here the direct object marker et (H0853, untranslated) does not appear before banim ("sons", H1121A) and banot ("daughters", H1323G), unlike its appearance before Re'u in the first clause — a structural distinction between naming a specific individual (Reu) versus a general, unnamed plural (sons and daughters).

Differences between versions

The LXX and Vulgate render the temporal clause somewhat differently in emphasis but preserve the same basic content: the LXX's μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν Ῥαγαύ ("after his begetting Ragau") and the Vulgate's postquam genuit Reu ("after he begat Reu") both correspond to the Hebrew acharei holido et-Re'u. The LXX adds καὶ ἀπέθανεν ("and he died"), a phrase absent from the Hebrew text as given and from the Vulgate, reflecting the LXX's tendency to close each genealogical entry with an explicit death notice not present in this Hebrew verse.