Genesis 21:34

Summary

The verse closes the narrative by stating that Abraham remained residing in the land of the Philistines for an extended period of time. It functions as a summary notice marking the end of the preceding episode.

Key words

va-yyagor ("he sojourned", H1481A) — qal verb with narrative vav, placing the action as the next sequential event in the story; the root denotes dwelling temporarily as a resident alien rather than a native.

'Avraham ("Abraham", H0085) — proper name, subject of the verb, identifying the one who performs the sojourning.

'erets ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular noun in construct state, meaning it must be linked to the following word to form the phrase "land of."

Pelishtim ("Philistines", H6430G) — gentilic plural noun, completing the construct chain and naming the territory's inhabitants/owners.

yamim rabbim ("many days", H3117G + H7227A) — noun-adjective pair, masculine plural, functioning as a temporal phrase indicating extended duration rather than a specific count.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav attached to yagor, a construction typical of Biblical Hebrew for advancing the storyline: "and he sojourned." The verb yagor (H1481A) is significant because it does not simply mean "to live" but carries the specific sense of residing as a non-native, a temporary or resident alien — the same root used elsewhere for foreigners dwelling in a land not their own. This nuance is present in the Hebrew root itself, distinct from a general verb of dwelling.

The phrase be-'erets Pelishtim uses a construct chain: 'erets ("land of") in construct state cannot stand alone and requires Pelishtim ("Philistines") to complete its meaning, yielding "in the land of the Philistines." This is a standard construct-absolute pairing marking possession or association — the land belongs to, or is characterized by, the Philistines.

The closing temporal phrase yamim rabbim ("many days") uses a plural noun modified by a plural adjective in agreement, a common Hebrew way of expressing indefinite extended duration rather than a precise number. The sentence as a whole is a brief narrative closure, syntactically simple: subject-verb-locative phrase-temporal phrase.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb yagor (to sojourn as a resident alien) is rendered in the LXX with parōkēsen, a Greek verb built on the same "dwelling beside/alongside" concept, preserving the alien-residence nuance. The Vulgate renders it as fuit colonus ("was a colonist/settler"), which shifts the nuance toward a more established colonial status rather than temporary sojourning. Some modern translations (e.g., BSB "resided") flatten this nuance into a general verb of dwelling, while others (SBLIBRE "vivió... como extranjero") retain the "as a foreigner" sense closer to the Hebrew root.