Genesis 11:25
וַיְחִי נָחוֹר אַחֲרֵי הוֹלִידוֹ אֶת־תֶּרַח תְּשַֽׁע־עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה וּמְאַת שָׁנָה וַיּוֹלֶד בָּנִים וּבָנֽוֹת׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיְחִ֣י נָח֗וֹר אַחֲרֵי֙ הוֹלִיד֣וֹ אֶת־תֶּ֔רַח תְּשַֽׁע־עֶשְׂרֵ֥ה שָׁנָ֖ה וּמְאַ֣ת שָׁנָ֑ה וַיּ֥וֹלֶד בָּנִ֖ים וּבָנֽוֹת׃ ס
καὶ ἔζησεν Ναχὼρ μετὰ τὸ γεννῆσαι αὐτὸν τὸν αὐτὸν ἴτη ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι ἐννέα, καὶ ἐγέννησεν υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ ἀπέθανεν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Vixitque Nachor, postquam genuit Thare, centum decem et novem annis: et genuit filios et filias.
Después del nacimiento de Taré, Nacor vivió ciento diecinueve años más, y tuvo otros hijos e hijas.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y vivió Nachôr, después que engendró á Thare, ciento diecinueve años, y engendró hijos é hijas.
And after he had become the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that Nahor lived 119 years after fathering Terah, and that during this span he had additional sons and daughters. It follows the standard genealogical formula used throughout Genesis 11 for the line from Shem to Abram.
Key words
- va-y'chi ("and he lived", H2421) — narrative vav + qal verb, opening the formula "and X lived."
- ho.liD.o ("his fathering / in his fathering", H3205) — hiphil infinitive with pronominal suffix "his," meaning "after he caused [Terah] to be born," i.e., "after he fathered him."
- tesha'-'esreh ("nine-teen", H8672/H6240) — construct chain of cardinal numbers forming "nineteen."
- me'at ("one hundred", H3967) — construct form of "hundred," combined with the previous phrase to total 119.
- va-yYo.led ("and he fathered", H3205) — narrative vav + hiphil verb, parallel in root to ho.liD.o but marking the ongoing narrative action rather than the infinitive clause.
What the text says
The sentence is built in two parts joined by narrative vav-chains typical of Hebrew genealogical lists. The first clause, va-y'chi Nachor 'acharei ho.liD.o 'et-Terach, uses the hiphil infinitive ho.liD.o ("in his fathering") with the pronominal suffix "his," literally "and Nahor lived after his fathering of Terah." This infinitive construction ties the number of years directly to the moment of Terah's birth rather than stating Nahor's total lifespan.
The number itself is built from two construct number-phrases: tesha'-'esreh shanah ("nineteen of year") and u-me'at shanah ("and a hundred of year"), together yielding 119 years. The construct state (X of Y) is common in Hebrew numerals combining tens/units with the noun "year."
The second clause, va-yYoled banim u-vanot, repeats the same hiphil root y-l-d ("to father/bear") now in simple narrative form, without a suffix, stating generally that Nahor "fathered sons and daughters" beyond the single named son Terah. The verb form change (infinitive with suffix → finite narrative verb) marks the shift from a specific past reference point to a general summary statement.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew and the Vulgate agree on 119 years (centum decem et novem). The LXX (Swete text provided) gives "ἑκατὸν εἴκοσι ἐννέα" — "one hundred twenty-nine" — a different total than the Hebrew's 119. The LXX text also adds "καὶ ἀπέθανεν" ("and he died"), a closing notice not present in the Hebrew or Vulgate texts supplied here.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.