Genesis 35:16

Summary

The verse continues the itinerary from Bethel, marking a stretch of remaining distance before reaching Ephrathah, and then reports that Rachel went into labor and experienced a difficult childbirth.

Key words

• va-yisʿu ("they set out", H5265) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive) with plural subject, opening the verse as a continuation of the journey sequence.
• kivrat ("distance of", H3530) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linked to ha-aretz ("the land", H0776G); the construct form signals a measurement phrase, though the exact unit it denotes is not specified elsewhere in the data.
• lavoʾ ("to go", H0935I) — qal infinitive, expressing purpose/goal ("in order to reach" Ephrathah).
• va-teqash ("she had difficulty", H7185) — piel narrative form; the piel stem intensifies the root's basic sense, marking the hardship of labor as more severe than a simple qal would convey.
• be-lidtah ("in her giving birth", H3205 + H9044) — qal infinitive construct with the preposition be ("when/in") and a pronominal suffix ("her"), forming a temporal clause: "while she was giving birth."

What the text says

The verse is built on a chain of vav-consecutive verbs typical of Hebrew narrative: va-yisʿu ("they set out"), va-yehi ("it was"), va-teled ("she gave birth"), and va-teqash ("she had difficulty"), each advancing the story sequentially. Between the first two verbs, the text inserts a temporal/spatial notice using the construct phrase kivrat ha-aretz, followed by the infinitive lavoʾ ("to go/reach") plus the place name Ephrathah, specifying that the group was still some interval away from that location when the birth began.

The final clause pairs va-teled ("she gave birth") with va-teqash ("she had difficulty"), the second verb in the piel stem, which in Hebrew often marks an intensified or effortful version of an action. The infinitive clause be-lidtah ("in her giving birth") closes the verse, restating the moment of birth to frame the difficulty described by va-teqash.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew phrase kivrat ha-aretz ("distance of the land") is rendered in the LXX as the transliterated term χαβραθά, treating it as if it were a proper name rather than translating it as a measurement. The Vulgate instead reads "verno tempore" ("in the spring season"), interpreting the phrase as a temporal marker rather than a spatial distance, diverging from the Hebrew's construct-noun structure describing land/distance. The LXX text also includes additional narrative material (Jacob pitching his tent, "the tower of Gader") not present in the Hebrew wording of this verse as given.