Genesis 35:15

Summary

The verse states that Jacob gave a name to the place where God had spoken with him, calling it Beit-El ("Bethel"). The sentence identifies the location by referring back to a previous divine communication at that site.

Key words

va-yikra ("and he called", H7121H) — qal narrative verb form; the vav-consecutive construction marks this as the next sequential event in the narrative, following directly from what precedes it.

shem ("[the] name of", H8034) — masculine singular construct noun; being in construct state, it binds grammatically to ha-maqom ("the place"), forming the phrase "the name of the place."

asher ("where/that", H0834A) — relative particle introducing a subordinate clause that specifies which place is meant: the one where the speaking occurred.

dibber ("he had spoken", H1696G) — piel perfect verb; the piel stem carries intensive force ("spoke" as a completed communicative act), and the perfect aspect marks this speaking as prior to the naming event, i.e., antecedent to the main narrative line.

Elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun functioning as the grammatical subject of dibber; despite the plural morphology, it governs a singular verb form in Hebrew usage here.

What the text says

The verse opens with va-yikra ("and he called"), a qal narrative verb that continues the sequence of actions attributed to Ya'aqov ("Jacob", H3290). The direct object is marked by 'et (H0853, untranslated), followed by the construct phrase shem ha-maqom — "the name of the place." This construct chain requires the two nouns to be read together as a single unit: "the name of the place," not "a name" and "a place" independently.

The relative clause beginning with asher ("where", H0834A) modifies ha-maqom ("the place"), explaining which place is being named. Inside this clause, dibber ("he had spoken", H1696G) is a piel perfect, placing the divine speech before the moment of naming in narrative time — the text presents the naming as a response to an earlier event rather than simultaneous with it. The subject of dibber is Elohim ("God", H0430G), grammatically plural in form but functioning with a singular verbal agreement pattern typical of this noun in the Hebrew text.

The verse closes with the place name itself, Beit-El ("Beth-el", H1008G), formed by two elements: beit ("house of") and 'El ("-el"), naming the location "House of God" through direct compound naming.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the sentence in abbreviated form, omitting explicit mention of asher dibber ... Elohim ("where God had spoken"), stating simply "vocansque nomen loci illius Bethel" ("and calling the name of that place Bethel"), without the relative clause found in the Hebrew. The LXXSWETE Greek text, by contrast, follows the Hebrew structure with en hō elalēsen met' autou ekei ("in which he spoke with him there"), preserving the relative clause with the divine speech.