Genesis 29:4

Summary

Jacob addresses a group of shepherds, asking where they are from. They answer that they are from Haran, the place Jacob himself was traveling toward.

Key words

• va-yYomer ("and he said", H0559) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking the next event in the story sequence, here Jacob's speech act.
• 'aChai ("O brothers", H0251G) — masculine plural noun in construct form with the suffix -i ("my"), literally "my brothers," used as a form of address.
• me-'Ayin ("from where?", H0370) — preposition me ("from") joined to the interrogative particle 'ayin ("where"), forming the question "from where."
• 'aTem ("you", H0859D) — independent personal pronoun, plural masculine, making explicit the subject "you all" after the interrogative.
• va-yYomeru ("and they said", H0559) — qal verb, narrative form, plural, marking the shepherds' collective reply.
• 'aNachnu ("we", H0587) — independent personal pronoun, plural, emphasizing the subject in the answer "we [are] from Haran."

What the text says

The verse is built as a short exchange introduced by two matching narrative verbs, va-yYomer ("and he said", H0559) for Jacob and va-yYomeru ("and they said", H0559) for the group he addresses. Both verbs use the vav-narrative construction, which simply advances the storyline without indicating tense beyond sequence.

Jacob's question has no main verb "to be" in the Hebrew; the sentence 'aChai me-'Ayin 'aTem ("my brothers, from where [are] you", H0251G, H0370, H0859D) juxtaposes the address 'aChai ("my brothers") with the question me-'Ayin ("from where") and the pronoun 'aTem ("you"). The verb "to be" is understood, a common feature of Hebrew nominal/pronominal sentences. The same construction appears in the answer: me-Charan 'aNachnu ("from Haran we", H2771A, H0587), where the place name precedes the pronoun, giving prominence to the location "Haran" as the information being supplied in response to the question.

The term 'aChai ("my brothers", H0251G) is a plural construct noun with a first-person singular suffix, used here as a vocative of address rather than indicating literal kinship — it functions as a social greeting toward unfamiliar shepherds.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'aChai ("my brothers") as Ἀδελφοί without a possessive pronoun ("my"), producing "Brothers" rather than "my brothers." The Vulgate specifies "ad pastores" ("to the shepherds") as the addressees of Jacob's question, a detail not present as a separate noun in the Hebrew text at this point, where the addressees are only indicated by the pronominal suffix -hem ("them", H9038) attached to la ("to").