Genesis 26:32

Summary

The verse narrates that on the same day, Isaac's servants arrived and reported to him about the well they had dug, announcing that they had found water. The sentence uses a chain of narrative verb forms typical of Hebrew storytelling, moving the action forward step by step.

Key words

• va-yehi ("and it was", H1961/H9001) — narrative vav + qal verb, the standard formula opening a new narrative unit, often rendered "and it came to pass."
• avdei ("servants of", H5650) — masculine plural construct, linking directly to Yitzchak ("Isaac", H3327) to form "servants of Isaac."
• va-yaggidu ("and they told", H5046) — hiphil (causative) narrative form; the causative stem marks the act of making something known/reported to Isaac.
• chafaru ("they had dug", H2658) — qal perfect, a completed action referring back to the digging of the well, distinct from the surrounding narrative (vav-consecutive) forms.
• matzanu ("we have found", H4672) — qal perfect, first person plural, the servants' direct speech reporting a completed discovery.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built from a sequence of narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs — va-yehi, va-yavo'u ("they came", H0935G), va-yaggidu, va-yomeru ("they said", H0559) — each introduced by the narrative vav (H9001), which chains events in temporal succession: "and it was... and they came... and they told... and they said." This chain structure is a hallmark of Biblical Hebrew narrative prose, presenting the events as a continuous, sequential report rather than as separate statements.

Within this chain, two perfect-tense verbs break the pattern: chafaru ("they had dug", H2658) and matzanu ("we have found", H4672). Both are qal perfects rather than narrative forms, marking completed actions prior to or apart from the main narrative flow — the digging happened before the report, and the finding of water is presented as an accomplished fact within the servants' direct speech. The construct phrases avdei Yitzchak ("servants of Isaac", H5650+H3327) and al-odot ha-be'er ("concerning the matter of the well", H5921A+H0182+H0875) show the construct (“X of Y”) pattern that links nouns without a separate word for "of."

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text has the servants declare matzanu mayim ("we have found water", H4672+H4325G) — a positive statement of success. The LXX, however, renders this as οὐχ εὕρομεν ὕδωρ, "we did not find water," a negation that is absent from the Hebrew. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew sense, stating "Invenimus aquam" ("We have found water"), matching the positive report. The RV1909, BSB, and SBLIBRE translations also follow the Hebrew/Vulgate reading of a successful discovery of water.