Genesis 14:15
וַיֵּחָלֵק עֲלֵיהֶם׀ לַיְלָה הוּא וַעֲבָדָיו וַיַּכֵּם וַֽיִּרְדְּפֵם עַד־חוֹבָה אֲשֶׁר מִשְּׂמֹאל לְדַמָּֽשֶׂק׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיֵּחָלֵ֨ק עֲלֵיהֶ֧ם׀ לַ֛יְלָה ה֥וּא וַעֲבָדָ֖יו וַיַּכֵּ֑ם וַֽיִּרְדְּפֵם֙ עַד־חוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִשְּׂמֹ֖אל לְדַמָּֽשֶׂק׃
καὶ ἐπέπεσεν ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς τὴν νύκτα αὐτὸς καὶ οἱ παῖδες αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐπάταξεν καὶ ἐδίωξεν αὐτοὺς ἕως Χωβάλ, ἡ ἐστιν ἐν ἀριστερᾷ Δαμάσκου.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et divisis sociis, irruit super eos nocte: percussitque eos, et persecutus est eos usque Hoba, quæ est ad lævam Damasci.
Durante la noche, Abram y sus hombres se dividieron para atacarlos, y los derrotaron y persiguieron hasta Hobá, que está al norte de Damasco.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y derramóse sobre ellos de noche él y sus siervos, é hiriólos, y fuélos siguiendo hasta Hobah, que está á la izquierda de Damasco.
During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes Abram's night attack: he divides his forces against the captors of Lot, strikes them, and pursues them northward past Damascus to a place called Hobah. The Hebrew text specifies three sequential actions using narrative verb forms, followed by a precise geographic marker.
Key words
- yechalek ("he divided himself", H2505A) — niphal form, meaning the action is either passive or reflexive; describes Abram splitting his own group into companies, not being divided by an external force.
- vayakem ("he attacked/struck", H5221) — hiphil (causative) form of the root for "to strike," indicating a caused/directed blow rather than a simple action.
- vayirdefem ("he pursued them", H7291) — qal (simple) narrative form, marking the third sequential act in the chain of verbs beginning with va.
- semol ("north/left", H8040H) — literally "left side"; used here as a directional term for the location relative to Damascus.
- asher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the clause that identifies Hobah's location.
What the text says
The verse is built as a chain of three narrative verbs, each prefixed with the vav that signals sequential action: vayechalek ("and he divided"), vayakem ("and he struck"), and vayirdefem ("and he pursued"). The niphal form of yechalek is notable: Hebrew grammar marks this as a passive-or-reflexive action, meaning the text frames Abram as the one who divides his forces (reflexive sense), rather than describing an external force splitting them.
The phrase hu va'avadav ("he and his servants," H1931 + H5650) clarifies the subject of the divided action — Abram together with his household servants, not allied forces mentioned elsewhere in the chapter.
The final geographic clause uses asher to introduce a location description: Hobah is identified as being misemol ("from the left/north," H9006 + H8040H) ledamasek ("of Damascus," H9005 + H1834). The word semol denotes "left side" literally; in the directional system reflected in this text, "left" corresponds to a northern position, which explains why some translations render it as "north" rather than "left."
Differences between versions
The LXX uses epepesen ("he fell upon") instead of a verb corresponding to "he divided" — a different verb altogether where the Hebrew has the niphal yechalek. The LXX also names the place Chōbal, differing slightly from the Hebrew Chovah (Hobah). Both the LXX (en aristera, "on the left") and the Vulgate (ad laevam, "to the left") render semol literally as "left," while the BSB and SBLIBRE translations interpret this as "north," reflecting the directional sense of "left" without preserving the literal wording.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.