Genesis 33:18

Summary

The verse narrates Jacob's arrival at the city of Shechem, located in the land of Canaan, after his journey from Paddan-aram. It closes with him setting up camp facing that city.

Key words

• shaLem ("safe", H8003) — masculine singular adjective describing the state in which Jacob arrives; it modifies the verb of coming rather than naming a place.
• 'ir ("city of", H5892B) — feminine singular noun in construct form, linking directly to Shechem to form "city of Shechem."
• be-vo'-o ("when he came", H0935G + H9003 + H9043) — infinitive construct with prefixed preposition be ("when/in") and pronominal suffix -o ("he/his"), producing a temporal clause: "in his coming from Paddan-aram."
• va-yichan ("and he camped", H2583) — qal verb in narrative (vav-consecutive) form, continuing the chain of sequential past actions begun with va-yavo ("and he came").
• pnei ("face of", H6440G) — masculine plural noun in construct, used with 'et ("with/before") to express spatial orientation: "before the face of the city."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of narrative verbs (va-yavo, "and he came"; va-yichan, "and he camped") typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling, where each new action is introduced by the vav-consecutive form. Between these two main verbs, the text inserts descriptive and temporal material: the adjective shalem ("safe") qualifies Jacob's condition upon arrival, the construct phrase 'ir Shechem ("city of Shechem") identifies the destination, the relative clause 'asher be-'eretz Kena'an ("which is in the land of Canaan") locates it, and the infinitive clause be-vo'o mi-Paddan Aram ("when he came from Paddan-aram") supplies the temporal frame for the whole first verb.

The final clause, va-yichan 'et-pnei ha-'ir ("and he camped with/at the face of the city"), uses the construct noun pnei ("face of") to express spatial proximity — camping oriented toward or facing the city, rather than inside it. The construct chain 'eretz Kena'an ("land of Canaan") functions grammatically the same way as 'ir Shechem, both being noun-plus-noun possessive links characteristic of Hebrew construct syntax.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew shalem (H8003) is an adjective, "safe" or "whole," describing Jacob's condition. The LXX instead reads it as a place name, rendering "εἰς Σαλήμ πόλιν Σικίμων" ("to Salem, city of Sikimon"), treating Shalem as a toponym distinct from Shechem. The Vulgate follows this same reading with "in Salem urbem Sichimorum" ("into Salem, city of the Sichimites"). The Hebrew construct 'et-pnei ha-'ir ("facing the city") is rendered similarly in the LXX as "κατὰ πρόσωπον τῆς πόλεως" ("opposite the face of the city"), while the Vulgate simplifies this to "habitavit juxta oppidum" ("he dwelt near the town"), losing the specific "face" imagery present in the Hebrew and Greek.