Genesis 30:43
וַיִּפְרֹץ הָאִישׁ מְאֹד מְאֹד וַֽיְהִי־לוֹ צֹאן רַבּוֹת וּשְׁפָחוֹת וַעֲבָדִים וּגְמַלִּים וַחֲמֹרִֽים׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּפְרֹ֥ץ הָאִ֖ישׁ מְאֹ֣ד מְאֹ֑ד וַֽיְהִי־לוֹ֙ צֹ֣אן רַבּ֔וֹת וּשְׁפָחוֹת֙ וַעֲבָדִ֔ים וּגְמַלִּ֖ים וַחֲמֹרִֽים׃
καὶ ἐπλούτησεν ὁ ἄνθρωπος σφόδρα σφόδρα· καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτῷ κτήνη πολλὰ καὶ βόες καὶ παῖδες καὶ παιδίσκοι καὶ κάμηλοι καὶ ὄνοι.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Ditatusque est homo ultra modum, et habuit greges multos, ancillas et servos, camelos et asinos.
De esta manera el hombre prosperó muchísimo, y llegó a tener grandes rebaños, además de sirvientas, sirvientes, camellos y burros.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y acreció el varón muy mucho, y tuvo muchas ovejas, y siervas y siervos, y camellos y asnos.
Thus Jacob became exceedingly prosperous. He owned large flocks, maidservants and menservants, and camels and donkeys.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse concludes the account of Jacob's dealings with Laban's flocks, stating that "the man" increased greatly and came to possess numerous sheep, female and male servants, camels, and donkeys.
Key words
- va-yifrotz ("and he increased/broke forth", H6555) — qal narrative verb; describes sudden, forceful expansion, continuing the story sequence with the narrative vav.
- me'od me'od ("very very/exceedingly", H3966, doubled) — the repetition of the same word intensifies the meaning beyond a single "very," marking an extreme degree.
- va-yehi-lo ("and it came to be to him", H1961 + H9005 + H9033) — the construction "it was to him" is the standard Hebrew idiom for possession, literally "and there was, to him."
- tzon rabbot ("sheep, many", H6629G + H7227A) — noun followed by feminine plural adjective, agreeing in gender/number with tzon as a collective feminine noun.
- shefachot ("female servants", H8198) — feminine plural noun, listed first among the human possessions before the masculine avadim ("servants", H5650).
What the text says
The verse opens with a narrative vav-consecutive construction, va-yifrotz ha-ish me'od me'od — "and the man increased very very (much)." The verb yifrotz (H6555) carries a sense of bursting forth or spreading out, not merely growing steadily; combined with the doubled me'od me'od, the Hebrew marks this increase as unusually intense, a nuance that translations render with single intensifiers like "exceedingly" or "muchísimo," losing the doubling effect visible in the Hebrew.
The second clause uses the idiomatic possession formula va-yehi lo ("and there was to him"), followed by a list of possessions: tzon rabbot ("many sheep/flocks"), shefachot ("female servants"), avadim ("male servants"), gemalim ("camels"), and chamorim ("donkeys"). Each item after the first is joined by the conjunction vav ("and"), producing a simple additive list structure typical of Biblical Hebrew inventories. The feminine plural adjective rabbot agrees specifically with tzon, suggesting in the Hebrew syntax that "many" modifies the flocks directly, though some translations extend "many" more loosely across the following nouns.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders tzon ("sheep/flock", H6629G) as κτήνη ("cattle/livestock," a broader term) and adds βόες ("oxen"), an item not present in the Hebrew list. The Vulgate uses greges ("flocks/herds") for tzon, a more general term than the Hebrew's flock-specific noun, but does not add oxen, staying closer to the Hebrew inventory otherwise.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.