Genesis 26:23

Summary

The verse records a brief narrative movement: an unnamed subject (identified by context as Isaac) goes up from a previous location to Beer Sheba. The sentence is minimal, consisting of a single verb, a directional adverb, and a place name.

Key words

• va ("and", H9001) — the narrative vav, prefixed to the verb, marks this as the next event in a sequential chain of actions; it does not simply mean "and" but signals continuation of the story line.
• ya'al ("he went up", H5927G) — qal narrative verb, third-person masculine singular. The qal stem indicates a simple, direct action ("he went up") without added nuance of causation or intensity.
• mishsham ("from there", H9006 + H8033G) — the preposition min ("from") joined to the adverb sham ("there"), indicating the point of departure for the movement described by the verb.
• Be'er Shava' ("Beer Sheba", H0884) — a two-part proper name functioning as the geographical goal of the verb "he went up." In the Hebrew text it appears with no preposition attached.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence follows the typical verb-first order of Biblical Hebrew narrative: verb (vayya'al), then the prepositional phrase of origin (mishsham), then the place name (Be'er Shava') as destination. The subject "he" is embedded in the verb form itself (third masculine singular), so no separate pronoun or noun is given in this verse — the referent must be supplied from the preceding context, since the Hebrew text of this verse alone does not name Isaac.

A notable grammatical feature is that the destination Be'er Shava' is attached directly to the verb without any preposition meaning "to." In Biblical Hebrew, a place name functioning as the goal of motion can be treated as an adverbial accusative of direction, requiring no explicit preposition — the verb "he went up" is understood to extend toward Beer Sheba simply by juxtaposition.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text has no preposition before Be'er Shava' ("Beer Sheba"), the place name standing directly as the goal of the verb ya'al ("he went up"). The Septuagint supplies the preposition ἐπὶ ("to/upon") before τὸ φρέαρ τοῦ ὅρκου ("the well of the oath"), rendering the place name as a descriptive phrase rather than transliterating it. The Vulgate similarly adds the preposition "in" before "Bersabee," making explicit the directional sense that the Hebrew leaves implicit through simple juxtaposition. The English and Spanish versions (BSB, SBLIBRE, RV1909) also insert "to" or "á," following the same interpretive supplementation as the LXX and Vulgate, and further specify "Isaac" as the subject, though this name is not present in the Hebrew of this particular verse.