Genesis 30:39

Summary

Genesis 30:39 narrates that the flocks mated in front of the striped branches placed before them, and as a result they bore offspring described by three terms indicating multicolored markings: striped, speckled, and spotted.

Key words

• yechemu ("they mated", H3179) — qal verb, narrative form (with vav), 3rd person masculine plural, marking the sequential action "and then they mated."
• hammaqlot ("the branches", H4731) — feminine plural noun with definite article, referring to the specific branches from the earlier context (v. 37) that were placed before the flock.
• telad'na ("they bore", H3205) — qal verb, narrative form, 3rd person feminine plural; the feminine agreement matches tzon ("flock", H6629) treated as a feminine collective in this clause.
• 'aqudim ("striped [ones]", H6124) — adjective, masculine plural, first of three terms describing the offspring's coloring pattern.
• teluim ("spotted [ones]", H2921) — qal passive participle, masculine plural; grammatically a participle rather than a simple adjective, meaning literally "patched" or "spotted ones."

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel narrative clauses joined by the vav-consecutive construction typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling: first vayyechemu ("and they mated") describes the action of the flock in relation to hammaqlot ("the branches"), using the preposition 'el ("to/toward", H0413) to indicate the flock faced or was positioned toward the branches. The second clause, vattelad'na ("and they bore"), shifts the grammatical gender of the verb to feminine plural, which is notable because the subject hatzon ("the flock") in Hebrew can take either masculine or feminine verb agreement depending on whether it is conceived collectively or as a group of female animals bearing young — here the feminine form aligns with the biological act of giving birth.

The three descriptive terms for the offspring — 'aqudim, nequddim ("speckled [ones]", H5348), and teluim — are stacked without repeated conjunctions except before the last one (u-teluim, "and spotted ones"), a common Hebrew list structure. Grammatically, teluim differs from the other two: it is a qal passive participle rather than a plain adjective, which carries a nuance of "having been marked/patched" rather than simply "possessing spots" as an inherent quality — a distinction not visible in most translations.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the three Hebrew descriptive terms ('aqudim, nequddim, teluim) with four Greek terms — διάλευκα ("white-spotted"), ποικίλα ("varied/mottled"), σποδοειδῆ ("ash-colored"), and ῥαντά ("sprinkled") — expanding the Hebrew's three-term list into a four-term list. The Vulgate uses three descriptive phrases (maculosa, varia, diverso colore respersa) that loosely parallel the Hebrew terms but do not correspond one-to-one in root meaning, particularly translating teluim with the phrase "sprinkled with different color" rather than a single lexical equivalent.