Genesis 31:54

Summary

Jacob offers a sacrifice on the mountain (hill country), invites his relatives to a meal, and after they eat together, they spend the night there. The verse closes the episode of the covenant between Jacob and Laban with a shared meal and lodging on the same mountain.

Key words

• va-yizBach ("and he sacrificed", H2076) — qal narrative verb, marks the next event in the sequence; Jacob is the sole subject of the sacrificial act.
• zevach ("a sacrifice", H2077) — masculine singular noun, cognate object of the verb yizBach, naming the specific ritual act performed.
• 'eChav ("his relatives/brothers", H0251H) — masculine plural construct noun with pronominal suffix -v ("his"), designating the group Jacob summons; construct form links it to the possessive suffix.
• le'ekhol ("to eat", H0398) — qal infinitive construct with prefixed preposition le-, expressing purpose ("in order to eat"), governing the noun lachem.
• va-yaLinu ("and they stayed the night", H3885A) — qal narrative verb, third person plural, continuing the narrative chain and closing the sequence of actions on the mountain.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four narrative (wayyiqtol) verbs — yizBach, yiqra, yo'khelu, yalinu — each introduced by the narrative va (H9001), which strings the actions in strict temporal sequence: Jacob sacrifices, then he calls, then they eat, then they lodge. This verb chain gives the verse a brisk, report-like rhythm typical of Hebrew narrative prose, without needing explicit temporal connectors like "then" or "after that" — the sequence is carried entirely by the verb forms themselves.

The phrase zevach ba-Har ("a sacrifice in the hill country/mountain", H2077 + H9003 + H2022H) uses a cognate accusative construction (verb yizBach "he sacrificed" with the related noun zevach "a sacrifice"), a common Hebrew pattern that emphasizes the action by pairing a verb with its noun of the same root. The location ba-Har is repeated at the end of the verse (va-yaLinu ba-Har), forming a frame around the meal — the sacrifice and the lodging both occur "in the hill country," bracketing the shared meal with Jacob's relatives.

The infinitive le-'ekhol lachem ("to eat food/bread", H0398 + H3899H) expresses the purpose of the invitation (yiqra, "he invited/called," H7121G): Jacob does not merely summon his relatives, but summons them specifically for the purpose of eating. The repetition of lachem ("food/bread," H3899H) in verse form 14 and 17 — once as the object of the purpose clause, once as the direct object of "they ate" (yo'khelu lachem) — underscores that the intended purpose was in fact carried out.

Differences between versions

The LXX includes an additional clause at the start not present in this Hebrew verse segment ("καὶ ὤμοσεν Ἰακὼβ κατὰ τοῦ Φόβου τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ Ἰσαάκ," "and Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac"), which belongs to the preceding verse's content. The LXX also renders the meal with two verbs, "ἔφαγον καὶ ἔπιον" ("they ate and drank"), where the Hebrew has only yo'khelu lachem ("they ate food"), without a verb for drinking. The Vulgate's "manserunt ibi" ("they remained there") and the LXX's "ἐκοιμήθησαν" ("they slept") both render yaLinu ("they lodged/spent the night," H3885A), a verb specifically denoting overnight lodging rather than a general stay.