Genesis 16:16

Summary

The verse records Abram's age—eighty-six years—at the moment when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael. It functions as a chronological notice closing the narrative unit concerning Ishmael's birth.

Key words

• ben ("son of", H1121L) — construct form used idiomatically to express age ("a son of X years"), linking Abram directly to the numeral that follows.
• shemonim ("eighty", H8084) and shesh ("six", H8337) — cardinal numbers combined to form the compound age "eighty-six," each governing its own noun for "year."
• shanah ("year", H8141) — singular form following shemonim, while shanim (plural, same Strong H8141) follows shesh; the alternation between singular and plural nouns after different numerals reflects standard Biblical Hebrew numeral syntax.
• ledet ("to bear/in bearing", H3205) — Qal infinitive construct, introduced by the preposition be ("when/in", H9003), forming a temporal clause: "when Hagar bore."
• et (H0853) — the direct object marker preceding Yishma'el, marking Ishmael as the object of Hagar's act of bearing, syntactically confirming that Hagar is the subject and Ishmael the one born.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ve-Avram ben-shemonim shanah ve-shesh shanim — literally "and Abram [was] a son of eighty years and six years." This construct chain (ben + number + shanah) is the standard Biblical Hebrew idiom for stating age; there is no explicit verb "to be," which is implied by the construct relationship itself. The numeral phrase splits the compound number eighty-six into two segments joined by ve ("and"), each with its own noun for "year" — shanah (singular) after "eighty" and shanim (plural) after "six," a common pattern when compound numbers are expressed in Hebrew.

The second half of the verse gives the temporal circumstance through an infinitive clause: be-ledet Hagar et-Yishma'el le-Avram — "when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram." The preposition be attached to the infinitive ledet creates a temporal subordinate clause without a finite verb, a construction typical of Hebrew narrative for expressing simultaneity ("at the bearing of..."). The direct object marker et clarifies that Ishmael is the one being born, with Hagar as the grammatical subject of the infinitive action, and le-Avram ("to Abram") indicating the child's paternal relation.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (Octoginta et sex annorum erat Abram) makes explicit the verb "erat" ("was"), which is absent in the Hebrew construct chain but grammatically implied. The Hebrew's infinitive construction be-ledet ("when bearing") is rendered by the Vulgate and modern versions (BSB, SBLIBRE) with finite past-tense verbs ("bore," "dio a luz," "peperit"), converting the Hebrew's non-finite temporal clause into a standard subordinate clause in the target languages.