Genesis 11:31
וַיִּקַּח תֶּרַח אֶת־אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ וְאֶת־לוֹט בֶּן־הָרָן בֶּן־בְּנוֹ וְאֵת שָׂרַי כַּלָּתוֹ אֵשֶׁת אַבְרָם בְּנוֹ וַיֵּצְאוּ אִתָּם מֵאוּר כַּשְׂדִּים לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן וַיָּבֹאוּ עַד־חָרָן וַיֵּשְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּקַּ֨ח תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ וְאֶת־ל֤וֹט בֶּן־הָרָן֙ בֶּן־בְּנ֔וֹ וְאֵת֙ שָׂרַ֣י כַּלָּת֔וֹ אֵ֖שֶׁת אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֑וֹ וַיֵּצְא֨וּ אִתָּ֜ם מֵא֣וּר כַּשְׂדִּ֗ים לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַד־חָרָ֖ן וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם׃
καὶ ἔλαβεν Θορὰ τὸν Ἁβρὰμ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν Λὼτ υἱὸν Ἁρρόν, υἱὸν τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὴν Σάραν τὴν νύμφην αὐτοῦ, γυmῖκα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῆς χώρας τῶν Χαλδαίων πορευθῆναι εἰς τὴν γῆν Χανἀαν κοὶ ἦλθεν ἕως Χαρράν, καὶ κατῴκησεν ἐκεῖ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Tulit itaque Thare Abram filium suum, et Lot filium Aran, filium filii sui, et Sarai nurum suam, uxorem Abram filii sui, et eduxit eos de Ur Chaldæorum, ut irent in terram Chanaan: veneruntque usque Haran, et habitaverunt ibi.
Taré tomó a su hijo Abram, a su nieto Lot, hijo de Harán, y a su nuera Saray, la esposa de Abram, y salieron de Ur de los caldeos para ir a la tierra de Canaán. Al llegar a la ciudad de Jarán, se quedaron a vivir allí.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y tomó Thare á Abram su hijo, y á Lot hijo de Harán, hijo de su hijo, y á Sarai su nuera, mujer de Abram su hijo: y salió con ellos de Ur de los Caldeos, para ir á la tierra de Canaán: y vinieron hasta Harán, y asentaron allí.
And Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai the wife of Abram, and they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans for the land of Canaan. But when they arrived in Haran, they settled there.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates Terah's departure from Ur of the Chaldeans with his son Abram, his grandson Lot, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, traveling toward the land of Canaan. The group stops at Haran and settles there instead of continuing to Canaan.
Key words
- va-yiqqach ("and he took", H3947G) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine singular; opens the sentence with the standard narrative chain marker va, indicating sequential action initiated by Terah.
- ben ("son of", H1121A) — masculine singular construct noun, used four times in the verse (for Abram, Haran, Lot in relation to Terah's son, and Abram again), each time linking two names in a genitive relationship "X of Y".
- kallato ("his daughter-in-law", H3618H + H9023) — feminine singular construct noun with third-person masculine singular suffix, identifying Sarai's relationship to Terah.
- va-yetze'u ("and they went out", H3318G) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural; marks the collective departure of the group as a single narrated event.
- la-lekhet ("to go", H1980G) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed preposition la ("to"), expressing purpose: the intended goal of the journey.
- va-yeshevu ("and they dwelt", H3427) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine plural, closing the sequence with settlement rather than continued travel.
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs: va-yiqqach ("he took"), va-yetze'u ("they went out"), va-yavo'u ("they came"), va-yeshevu ("they dwelt"). This chain structure presents the events as a sequential, connected narrative rather than isolated statements. Terah is the subject of the first verb, but the subject shifts to a plural "they" for the remaining three verbs, indicating the whole group (Terah, Abram, Lot, Sarai) as joint actors in the journey.
The kinship terminology relies heavily on the construct noun ben ("son of", H1121A), repeated in a chain to specify Lot's relationship: Lot ben-Haran ben-beno ("Lot son of Haran, son of his son"), clarifying that Lot is Terah's grandson through Haran. Sarai is identified through two construct nouns in sequence, kallato ("his daughter-in-law") and 'eshet Avram beno ("wife of Abram his son"), doubling the specification of her relationship to both Terah and Abram.
The stated destination is introduced by the infinitive la-lekhet ("to go") plus artzah Kena'an ("toward the land of Canaan"), with the directional he suffix on artzah reinforcing motion toward that place. However, the final narrative verb va-yeshevu ("they dwelt") reports settlement not in Canaan but in Haran ('ad-Charan, "to Haran"), marking a divergence between the stated purpose of the journey and its narrated outcome within the Hebrew text itself.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders va-yetze'u... me-Ur Kasdim ("and they went out... from Ur of the Chaldeans") with ἐξήγαγεν αὐτοὺς ("he led them out"), shifting the grammatical subject from the plural group (Hebrew) to Terah alone as the one who leads others out. The Vulgate follows a similar pattern with eduxit eos ("he led them out"), also making Terah the singular subject of the departure, where the Hebrew verb va-yetze'u is third-person plural.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.