Genesis 25:18

Summary

Genesis 25:18 describes the territory occupied by Ishmael's descendants, stretching from Havilah to Shur near Egypt, in the direction of Asshur. The verse closes with a statement using the verb naphal ("he fell", H5307G) concerning "his brothers," a phrase rendered differently across the versions.

Key words

• va-yishkenu ("and they dwelt", H7931) — qal narrative form, third person masculine plural, continuing the story sequence begun with vav narrative (H9001); indicates a settled dwelling, not mere passing through.
• asher ("which/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a description of Shur's location "on the face of" (al-penei, H5921A + H6440G) Egypt.
• bo'akhah ("your going", H0935I + H9041) — qal infinitive with second-person suffix, literally "in your going," describing direction of travel toward Asshur (H0804G) — an unusual grammatical construction embedding a second-person reference within third-person narration.
• kol-echav ("all his brothers", H3605 + H0251H + H9023) — construct chain marking possession, referring to Ishmael's kin.
• naphal ("he fell", H5307G) — qal perfect, third masculine singular, completed action; the final verb of the verse, syntactically parallel to al-penei ("on the face of") which appears twice in the passage (lines 8-9 and 15-16).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence begins with the narrative verb va-yishkenu ("and they dwelt", H7931), placing the plural subject (Ishmael's descendants, understood from context) in a specific geography: from Chavilah (H2341J) to Shur (H7793). A relative clause introduced by asher (H0834A) further locates Shur "on the face of" (al-penei, H6440G construct) Egypt, using the infinitive construction bo'akhah ("in your going", H0935I with second-person suffix H9041) to indicate direction toward Asshur (H0804G).

The final clause repeats the phrase al-penei ("on the face of") followed by kol-echav ("all his brothers", construct chain) and ends with the single verb naphal ("he fell", H5307G), a qal perfect verb. The grammatical subject of naphal is not explicitly named in this final clause; it is inferred from the preceding narrative context. The phrase "on the face of all his brothers he fell" uses the same construct pattern (al-penei) as the earlier geographic description, creating a structural echo between the spatial description of territory and this final statement.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb naphal ("he fell", H5307G) is rendered differently across versions. The LXX repeats κατῴκησεν ("he dwelt/settled") instead of translating "fell," effectively restating the initial verb of the verse. The Vulgate uses obiit ("he died"), interpreting naphal as referring to death. The BSB renders the phrase as "they lived in hostility," and the SBLIBRE similarly reads "vivió en conflicto" ("he lived in conflict"), both diverging from a literal "falling" and from each other's specific verb choices (dwelling vs. dying vs. conflict).