Genesis 25:17

וְאֵלֶּה שְׁנֵי חַיֵּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל מְאַת שָׁנָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה וְשֶׁבַע שָׁנִים וַיִּגְוַע וַיָּמָת וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וְאֵ֗לֶּה שְׁנֵי֙ חַיֵּ֣י יִשְׁמָעֵ֔אל מְאַ֥ת שָׁנָ֛ה וּשְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים שָׁנָ֖ה וְשֶׁ֣בַע שָׁנִ֑ים וַיִּגְוַ֣ע וַיָּ֔מָת וַיֵּאָ֖סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ ταῦτα τὰ ἔτη τῆς ζωῆς Ἰσμαήλ, ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἑπτὰ ἔτη· καὶ ἐκλείπων ἀπέθανεν καὶ προσετέθη πρὸς τὸ γένος αὐτοῦ.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Et facti sunt anni vitæ Ismaëlis centum triginta septem, deficiensque mortuus est, et appositus ad populum suum.

Spanish

Ismael vivió ciento treinta y siete años. Luego exhaló el último suspiro, murió y fue a reunirse con sus antepasados.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y estos fueron los años de la vida de Ismael, ciento treinta y siete años: y exhaló el espíritu Ismael, y murió; y fué unido á su pueblo.

English

Ishmael lived a total of 137 years. Then he breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.

✦ What the text says

Summary

The verse records the total lifespan of Ishmael — one hundred thirty-seven years — and describes his death using three successive verbs, concluding with the notice that he was "gathered to his people."

Key words

chai.Yei ("life of", H2416E) — construct plural noun linking to yish.ma.'El, forming "the years of the life of Ishmael."
i.yig.Va' ("he expired", H1478) — qal narrative verb, first in the sequence of death-terms.
i.Ya.mot ("he died", H4191) — qal narrative verb, second in the sequence, following directly after i.yig.Va'.
i.ye.'A.sef ("he was gathered", H0622) — niphal (passive) narrative verb, marking the final stage of the death formula.
'a.Ma ("kinspeople", H5971B) with suffix ו ("his") — construct noun + possessive, "his people."

What the text says

The verse opens with the demonstrative 'E.leh ("these", H0428) introducing a summary formula, followed by she.Nei ("years of", H8141) in construct with chai.Yei ("life of", H2416E) and the proper name yish.ma.'El. The number of years is given in three separate units — me.'At sha.Nah ("one hundred year", H3967/H8141), she.lo.Shim sha.Nah ("thirty year", H7970/H8141), and She.va' sha.Nim ("seven years", H7651/H8141) — each joined by the conjunction ve. ("and", H9002), rather than as a single combined numeral. This construction, common in Biblical Hebrew, states the age as a sum of separate numerical phrases.

The death of Ishmael is narrated through three consecutive verbs, each introduced by the narrative va ("and", H9001), which chains the actions sequentially: i.yig.Va' ("he expired", H1478, qal), i.Ya.mot ("he died", H4191, qal), and i.ye.'A.sef ("he was gathered", H0622, niphal). The shift from active qal forms to the passive/reflexive niphal in the third verb marks a grammatical change: the first two describe Ishmael as the one acting (expiring, dying), while the third presents him as the recipient of an action — "gathered" — governed by the preposition 'el ("to", H0413) plus the construct noun 'a.Ma ("kinspeople", H5971B) with the possessive suffix ו ("his").

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the three separate numerical units (me.'At, she.lo.Shim, She.va' sha.Nim) as a single combined figure, "ἑκατὸν τριάκοντα ἑπτὰ ἔτη" (one hundred thirty-seven years), collapsing the Hebrew's threefold construct phrasing into one continuous count. The Vulgate follows this same combined format ("centum triginta septem"). Additionally, the LXX renders the first Hebrew verb i.yig.Va' ("he expired", H1478) with a participle, "ἐκλείπων" ("failing/growing faint"), attached to the verb "ἀπέθανεν" ("he died"), differing from the Hebrew's two distinct finite verbs i.yig.Va' and i.Ya.mot.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.