Genesis 31:23
וַיִּקַּח אֶת־אֶחָיו עִמּוֹ וַיִּרְדֹּף אַחֲרָיו דֶּרֶךְ שִׁבְעַת יָמִים וַיַּדְבֵּק אֹתוֹ בְּהַר הַגִּלְעָֽד׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּקַּ֤ח אֶת־אֶחָיו֙ עִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּרְדֹּ֣ף אַחֲרָ֔יו דֶּ֖רֶךְ שִׁבְעַ֣ת יָמִ֑ים וַיַּדְבֵּ֥ק אֹת֖וֹ בְּהַ֥ר הַגִּלְעָֽד׃
καὶ παραλαβὼν πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς αὐτοῦ μεθ’ ἑαυτοῦ ἐδίωξεν ὀπίσω αὐτοῦ ὁδὸν ἡμερῶν ἑπτά, καὶ κατέλαβεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ὄρει Γαλαάδ.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Qui, assumptis fratribus suis, persecutus est eum diebus septem: et comprehendit eum in monte Galaad.
Entonces Labán reunió a sus parientes y lo persiguió durante siete días, hasta que lo alcanzó en los montes de Galaad.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces tomó á sus hermanos consigo, y fué tras él camino de siete días, y alcanzóle en el monte de Galaad.
So he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for seven days, and overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse narrates three consecutive actions of Laban: he took his relatives with him, pursued Jacob for a seven-day journey, and caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. The Hebrew presents these as a rapid sequence of narrative events using the vav-consecutive construction.
Key words
- vayyiqqach ("he took", H3947G) — qal narrative form with vav-consecutive, marking the first event in the sequence: "and then he took."
- 'echayv ("his relatives", H0251H) — construct plural noun with pronominal suffix; the Hebrew term denotes broader kin, not necessarily blood brothers.
- derekh ("journey of", H1870L) — construct singular noun, linking directly to "seven days" to express distance measured in travel-time rather than physical space.
- shiv'at yamim ("seven of days", H7651 + H3117G) — cardinal number in construct with plural noun, forming the standard Hebrew idiom for a duration of seven days.
- vayyadbek ("he overtook", H1692) — hiphil (causative) narrative form; the causative stem suggests an active, forceful "making [something] adhere/catch up," stronger than a simple qal "to reach."
What the text says
The verse is built on three verbs joined by the narrative vav (va, H9001), each introducing a new stage of action: vayyiqqach ("he took"), vayyirdof ("he pursued"), and vayyadbek ("he overtook"). This chain creates a compressed, sequential narrative typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling, where events unfold one after another without subordinate clauses.
The phrase derekh shiv'at yamim ("a journey of seven days") functions adverbially, describing the extent of the pursuit not in miles but in travel-days — a common way biblical Hebrew quantifies distance. The final verb, vayyadbek (H1692), is in the hiphil stem, which carries a causative nuance: rather than merely "arriving at" or "finding" Jacob, the verb suggests an active closing of the gap, "causing to draw near" or "catching up forcefully."
The noun 'echayv (H0251H, "his relatives") is grammatically plural construct with a third-person suffix ("his"), referring to male kin traveling with Laban — the term's semantic range covers both "brothers" in the strict sense and broader "kinsmen."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders 'echayv ("his relatives," H0251H) as πάντας τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς ("all the brothers"), adding the quantifier "all" (πάντας), which has no separate lexical equivalent in the Hebrew text. The Vulgate's fratribus suis ("his brothers") similarly narrows the term to "brothers," where the Hebrew word's construct plural form allows for a wider sense of "kinsmen" or "relatives," as reflected in the BSB's translation choice.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.