Genesis 26:18
וַיָּשָׁב יִצְחָק וַיַּחְפֹּר׀ אֶת־בְּאֵרֹת הַמַּיִם אֲשֶׁר חָֽפְרוּ בִּימֵי אַבְרָהָם אָבִיו וַיְסַתְּמוּם פְּלִשְׁתִּים אַחֲרֵי מוֹת אַבְרָהָם וַיִּקְרָא לָהֶן שֵׁמוֹת כַּשֵּׁמֹת אֲשֶׁר־קָרָא לָהֶן אָבִֽיו׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיָּ֨שָׁב יִצְחָ֜ק וַיַּחְפֹּ֣ר׀ אֶת־בְּאֵרֹ֣ת הַמַּ֗יִם אֲשֶׁ֤ר חָֽפְרוּ֙ בִּימֵי֙ אַבְרָהָ֣ם אָבִ֔יו וַיְסַתְּמ֣וּם פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔ים אַחֲרֵ֖י מ֣וֹת אַבְרָהָ֑ם וַיִּקְרָ֤א לָהֶן֙ שֵׁמ֔וֹת כַּשֵּׁמֹ֕ת אֲשֶׁר־קָרָ֥א לָהֶ֖ן אָבִֽיו׃
καὶ πάλιν Ἰσαὰκ ὤρυξεν τὰ φρέατα τοῦ ὕδατος ἃ ὤρυξαν οἱ παῖδες Ἀβραὰμ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐνέφραξαν αὐτὰ οἱ Φυλιστιεὶμ μετὰ τὸ ἀποθανεῖν Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατέρα αὐτοῦ· καὶ ἐπωνόμασεν αὐτοῖς ὀνόματα κατὰ τὰ ὀνόματα ἃ ὠνόμασεν Ἀβραὰμ ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
rursum fodit alios puteos, quos foderant servi patris sui Abraham, et quos, illo mortuo, olim obstruxerant Philisthiim: appellavitque eos eisdem nominibus quibus ante pater vocaverat.
Isaac volvió a abrir los pozos de agua que habían sido cavados en tiempos de su padre Abraham, y que los filisteos habían tapado después de su muerte. A estos pozos les puso los mismos nombres que su padre les había dado.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y volvió á abrir Isaac los pozos de agua que habían abierto en los días de Abraham su padre, y que los Filisteos habían cegado, muerto Abraham; y llamólos por los nombres que su padre los había llamado.
Isaac reopened the wells that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham, which the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham died. And he gave these wells the same names his father had given them.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that Isaac reopened water wells originally dug in his father Abraham's time, which the Philistines had blocked after Abraham's death. Isaac then renamed these wells using the same names his father had originally given them.
Key words
- va.Yashov ("he returned", H7725J) — qal narrative verb; paired with the following verb to express repetition/renewal of an action ("he returned and dug" = "he dug again").
- yachPor ("he dug", H2658) — qal narrative verb; the same root (H2658) reappears later as chafeRu ("they had dug"), linking present and past digging actions.
- chafeRu ("they had dug", H2658) — qal perfect, marking completed action prior to the main narrative timeline, introduced by the relative particle 'aSher ("which", H0834A).
- ysateMum ("they had stopped up", H5640A) — piel (intensive) narrative verb; the piel stem intensifies the action of blocking/stopping, contrasting with the simple qal used for digging.
- ka ("like the", H9004) — comparative preposition with article, governing the second occurrence of sheMot ("names", H8034), establishing the naming as a repetition, not a new act.
What the text says
The verse is built on parallel verb pairs joined by narrative vav (H9001), creating a chain of sequential actions: Isaac returns/digs, the Philistines had stopped up, Isaac calls names. The construction va.Yashov...va.yachPor (word 2 + word 5) is a Hebrew idiom where a finite verb of motion or repetition ("he returned") combines with a second verb to express that an action is repeated — here, "he dug again" rather than two separate acts of returning and digging.
The relative clause introduced by 'aSher (word 10) uses the qal perfect chafeRu ("they had dug") to mark an action completed before the main narrative point — the digging occurred "in the days of Abraham" (bi.Mei 'Avraham, words 12-14), a temporal construct phrase. The verb ysateMum (word 18) is in the piel stem, which intensifies the root H5640, distinguishing the thorough "stopping up" from the simple digging action.
The final clause repeats the naming pattern: va.yikRa' laHen sheMot ("he called to them names") mirrors 'aSher kaRa' laHen 'aVio ("which his father had called to them"), using the same verb H7121H in narrative and perfect forms respectively, framed by the comparative ka- (word 29) to show the names were identical repetitions.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew text (words 12-14) states the wells were dug "in the days of Abraham his father" (bi.Mei 'Avraham 'aVio), a temporal phrase with no stated agent for the digging. The LXX renders this as "which the servants (παῖδες) of Abraham his father dug," adding an explicit subject not present in the Hebrew construct phrase. The Vulgate similarly reads "quos foderant servi patris sui Abraham" ("which the servants of his father Abraham had dug"), matching the LXX's addition of "servants" as the agents of the digging.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.