Genesis 19:31

Summary

The elder daughter tells the younger that their father is old and that no man remains in the region to have relations with them, following what she calls the practice observed throughout the whole earth. The statement sets up the reasoning behind the daughters' subsequent actions in the passage.

Key words

• bekhirah ("firstborn", H1067) — feminine singular noun with definite article, identifying the speaker as "the firstborn" daughter, contrasted with tze'irah ("young", H6810) also with definite article.
• zaqen ("he is old", H2204) — qal perfect, third person, expressing a completed state: the father's age is presented as an established fact, not an ongoing process.
• 'ish ("man", H0376G) — masculine singular noun, paired with 'ein ("there not", H0369) to form a negation: literally "a man there-is-not," meaning no man exists.
• lavo' ("to go", H0935G) — qal infinitive construct with the preposition le- ("to"), giving the sense "to come/enter," used here in a euphemistic sense regarding sexual relations, governed by the preposition 'alei- ("upon/on," H5921A) with the suffix -nu ("us," H9035).
• derekh ("way of", H1870G) — construct noun linked to kol ("all," H3605) and ha'aretz ("the earth/land," H0776G), forming the phrase "according to the way of all the earth," i.e., a general custom.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as direct speech introduced by va-tomer ("and she said," H0559), a narrative qal verb marking a new turn in the story. The elder daughter's statement has two clauses joined by ve- ("and," H9002): first, "our father is old" ('avinu zaqen), a simple stative perfect construction; second, "a man there-is-not in the land to come upon us" (ve-'ish 'ein ba'aretz lavo' 'aleinu), which uses the existential negator 'ein followed by the infinitive lavo' to express purpose or result ("so that he might come/enter"). The infinitive lavo' with the preposition 'al- ("upon") plus suffix -nu ("us") is the same verb used elsewhere for entering or approaching, here functioning as a euphemistic reference to sexual intercourse. The clause is bound with ke-derekh kol ha'aretz ("according to the custom of all the earth"), where derekh in construct form links to kol ha'aretz, generalizing the practice being invoked as universal.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'avinu zaqen ("our father is old") as "ho patēr hēmōn presbyteros" (comparative form, "our father is elder/older"), shifting the Hebrew stative verb into an adjectival comparative. Where the Hebrew has the infinitive lavo' 'aleinu ("to come upon us"), the LXX uses a future indicative, "hos eiseleusetai pros hēmas" ("who will come in to us"), and the Vulgate similarly renders it as "qui possit ingredi ad nos" ("who might enter to us"), both shifting the Hebrew infinitive construction into a finite verbal clause with a relative pronoun not explicitly present in the Hebrew syntax.