Genesis 22:24

Summary

The verse records that Nahor's concubine, named Reumah, also bore four sons: Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah. This continues the genealogical listing of Nahor's offspring, distinguishing children born from a concubine as opposed to a primary wife.

Key words

• pilagshо ("concubine", H6370) — feminine singular noun in construct form with the pronominal suffix o ("his", H9023), meaning "his concubine"; the construct state links her status directly to Nahor as the implied possessor.
• shemah ("name", H8034) — masculine singular noun in construct with suffix ah ("her", H9024), forming "her name," a standard formula introducing a person's identity before the proper name follows.
• Teled ("she bore", H3205) — Qal verb in narrative (vayyiqtol) form, marking the next sequential action in the genealogical account; the narrative vav ties this birth report directly to the preceding material.
• gam-hi ("also she", H1571 + H1931) — adverb gam combined with the independent personal pronoun hi, emphasizing that this woman, in addition to others previously mentioned, also produced offspring.
• 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, repeated four times before each son's name (Tevach, Gacham, Tachash, Ma'akhah), grammatically marking each as the object of the verb Teled.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence structure opens with two construct phrases — u-pilagsho ("and his concubine") and u-shemah Re'umah ("and her name [was] Reumah") — which together introduce the woman before any verb appears. This double construct construction (concubine-of-him, name-of-her) is a common Hebrew pattern for introducing a secondary character by relationship and then by name, distinct from a full independent clause.

The verb Teled ("she bore", H3205) governs four direct objects, each individually marked by the particle 'et (H0853). This repetition of the object marker before every name, rather than a single marker for the whole list, gives each son syntactic prominence as a separate object of the bearing action, even though they are grammatically parallel.

The adverb gam ("also", H1571) paired with the independent pronoun hi ("she", H1931) creates emphasis: "she also" bore children, implying a contrast or addition to a previously mentioned bearer of children (the primary wife's offspring listed earlier in the chapter). This gam-hi' construction highlights the concubine's own maternal contribution to Nahor's lineage as a distinct but parallel line.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew name Re'umah (H7208) appears in the LXX as Ῥεηρά (Reēra) and in the Vulgate as "Roma," both differing from the Hebrew form. Similarly, the sons' names show variation: Hebrew Tevach (H2875) appears as Τάβεκ in the LXX and "Tabee" in the Vulgate; Hebrew Tachash (H8477) appears as Τόχος in the LXX and "Thahas" in the Vulgate; Hebrew Ma'akhah (H4601) appears as Μωχά in the LXX and "Maacha" in the Vulgate. These reflect transliteration differences across the textual traditions rather than differences in grammatical structure.