Genesis 16:14

Summary

The verse states that "someone called" (or "the well was called") by the name Be'er Lachai Ro'i, and adds a geographic note locating this well between the places Qadesh and Bered. The verse closes the preceding narrative about Hagar's encounter at the well.

Key words

• ka.Ra' ("he called", H7121H) — qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular; the grammatical subject is not stated in the Hebrew text itself, which is why English versions render it as a passive ("was called") even though the Hebrew verb form is active.
• be.'Er ("well", H0875) — feminine singular noun with the definite article (la- + be'er), referring to "the well" as a common noun before the proper name is given.
• be.'Er / la.Chai / ro.'I (H0883) — three elements forming the proper name of the place, tagged under a single Strong number as components of one compound toponym.
• hi.Neh ("there!", H2009) — interjection introducing the locating clause, drawing attention to the well's position.
• vein- / Vein ("between", H0996G) — construct form of the numeral/particle used twice (bein... u-bein...) to frame the two boundary points, Qadesh and Bered.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the causal adverb 'al-ken ("therefore"), linking this naming to prior events. The verb qara (H7121H) appears in the perfect with no explicit grammatical subject expressed as a separate word; Hebrew narrative frequently uses an unspecified 3ms subject in such naming formulas, which can be read either as "he called" (an implied subject, e.g., someone from the earlier narrative) or functionally as a passive "it was called." The object is la-be'er ("to/for the well," H0875+H9005), the common noun with article, followed immediately by the proper name itself, composed of three elements tagged H0883: be'er, lachai, ro'i. This repetition of "be'er" — first as a common noun, then as part of the proper name — is typical of Hebrew naming formulas where the generic term precedes and merges with the specific name.

The second half of the verse uses hinneh to introduce a spatial clause, followed by the paired construct expressions bein qadesh u-vein bared ("between Qadesh and between Bered"), a standard Hebrew construction for expressing "between X and Y" that repeats the preposition bein before each place name.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew presents the well's name as an untranslated compound proper noun (Be'er Lachai Ro'i). The LXX renders it descriptively as "τὸ Φρέαρ οὗ ἐνώπιον ἴδον" ("the well of whom I saw before"), interpreting the name's meaning rather than transliterating it. The Vulgate similarly translates the sense: "Puteum viventis et videntis me" ("well of the living and seeing me"), differing from the Hebrew's untranslated proper-name form. The BSB and SBLIBRE instead transliterate the Hebrew name directly as "Beer-lahai-roi" / "Beer Lahai Roi," preserving it as a proper noun rather than translating its components.