Genesis 12:5

וַיִּקַּח אַבְרָם אֶת־שָׂרַי אִשְׁתּוֹ וְאֶת־לוֹט בֶּן־אָחִיו וְאֶת־כָּל־רְכוּשָׁם אֲשֶׁר רָכָשׁוּ וְאֶת־הַנֶּפֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂוּ בְחָרָן וַיֵּצְאוּ לָלֶכֶת אַרְצָה כְּנַעַן וַיָּבֹאוּ אַרְצָה כְּנָֽעַן׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

Tap a word to see its entry

✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיִּקַּ֣ח אַבְרָם֩ אֶת־שָׂרַ֨י אִשְׁתּ֜וֹ וְאֶת־ל֣וֹט בֶּן־אָחִ֗יו וְאֶת־כָּל־רְכוּשָׁם֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר רָכָ֔שׁוּ וְאֶת־הַנֶּ֖פֶשׁ אֲשֶׁר־עָשׂ֣וּ בְחָרָ֑ן וַיֵּצְא֗וּ לָלֶ֙כֶת֙ אַ֣רְצָה כְּנַ֔עַן וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ אַ֥רְצָה כְּנָֽעַן׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ἔλαβεν Ἀβρὰμ τὴν Σάρα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸν Λὼτ υἱὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ πάντα τὰ ὐπά αὐτῶν ὅσα ἐκτήσαντο καὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἢν ἐκτήσαντο ἐκ Χαρράν, καὶ ἐξήλθοσαν πορευθῆναι εἰς γῆν Χανάαν καὶ ἦλθον εἰς γῆν Χανάαν.

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

Latin (Vulgate)

Tulitque Sarai uxorem suam, et Lot filium fratris sui, universamque substantiam quam possederant, et animas quas fecerant in Haran: et egressi sunt ut irent in terram Chanaan. Cumque venissent in eam,

Spanish

Tomó a su esposa Saray, a su nieto Lot, y todos los bienes y las personas que habían adquirido en Jarán, y se pusieron en camino hacia la tierra de Canaán. Cuando llegaron a Canaán,

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y tomó Abram á Sarai su mujer, y á Lot hijo de su hermano, y toda su hacienda que habían ganado, y las almas que habían adquirido en Harán, y salieron para ir á tierra de Canaán; y á tierra de Canaán llegaron.

English

And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and people they had acquired in Haran, and set out for the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan,

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse narrates that Abram took Sarai his wife, his nephew Lot, all the possessions and persons acquired in Haran, and departed toward the land of Canaan, arriving there. The sentence is built as a chain of narrative verbs describing successive actions: taking, going out, and arriving.

Key words

yiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative form of the verb "to take"; the vav-consecutive links it as the first action of the sequence.
ben-achiv ("son of his brother", H1121A + H0251G) — a construct chain literally meaning "son of his brother," the standard Hebrew way of expressing "nephew," with no dedicated word for that relation.
nefesh ("person[s]", H5315J) — feminine singular noun used collectively for human beings acquired in Haran; grammatically singular though referring to multiple individuals.
rakhashu ("they had accumulated", H7408) and asu ("they had acquired", H6213I) — both qal perfect forms marking completed action prior to the main narrative, explaining what had happened in Haran before the departure.
artsah ("[the] land of...", H0776G) with the directional he (H9011) — construct noun plus directional suffix, meaning "toward the land of," appearing twice for both the departure (v. yetse'u) and the arrival (v. yavo'u).

What the text says

The verse is structured around three narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs — yiqqach ("he took", H3947G), yetse'u ("they went out", H3318G), and yavo'u ("they came", H0935G) — each advancing the storyline in sequence: taking, departing, arriving. The direct objects of the taking are marked one by one with the untranslated object marker et (H0853): Sarai, Lot, the possessions, and the nefesh ("person[s]", H5315J). The possessions and persons are further qualified by relative clauses using asher ("which/whom", H0834A) followed by perfect-tense verbs (rakhashu, asu), indicating actions completed before the main narrative moment — what had been accumulated or acquired while still in Haran.

The phrase artsah kena'an ("toward the land of Canaan") is repeated twice, once with the infinitive lalekhet ("to go", H1980G) describing the purpose of departure, and again with yavo'u ("they came") marking the completed arrival. This repetition in the Hebrew creates a frame emphasizing both the intention and the accomplishment of the journey.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew ben-achiv ("son of his brother") is rendered literally in the LXX as υἱὸν τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ αὐτοῦ ("son of his brother") and in the Vulgate as filium fratris sui ("son of his brother"), while the SBLIBRE Spanish version renders it as "nieto" ("grandson"), diverging from the Hebrew's stated relationship of nephew (son of a brother), not grandson.

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