Genesis 35:22

Summary

The verse narrates that while Israel (Jacob) was dwelling in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it. The verse then closes with the tally: the sons of Jacob were twelve.

Key words

• shekon ("dwelt", H7931) — infinitive construct governed by the preposition bi ("when/in"), forming a temporal clause: "while Israel was dwelling."
• yishkav ("he lay with", H7901) — qal narrative verb, a common Biblical Hebrew idiom for sexual intercourse.
• pilegesh ("concubine of", H6370) — feminine singular noun in construct state, linking directly to avi ("father of", H0001) plus the suffix -o ("his"), producing "concubine of his father."
• yishma ("he heard", H8085) — qal narrative verb with no stated direct object in the Hebrew; the text only says Israel "heard," without specifying what.
• yihyu ("they were", H1961) — qal narrative verb introducing the closing tally of Jacob's sons, marking a shift from the incident to a summary statement.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the formulaic vayehi ("and it was", H1961) followed by a temporal clause built on the infinitive shekon ("dwelling") governed by bi ("when/in"). This structure sets the scene — Israel's dwelling in "that land" (ba'aretz hahi) — before the main narrative action begins with vayelekh ("and he went"), vayishkav ("and he lay"), and vayishma ("and he heard"), all narrative-form verbs that chain events in sequence typical of Hebrew storytelling.

The object marker 'et before Bilhah (H1090A) marks her as the direct object of vayishkav, and the construct chain pilegesh avio ("concubine of his father") clarifies her relationship to Jacob. Notably, the verb vayishma ("and he heard") in the Hebrew has no stated object — the text does not say explicitly what Israel heard or how he reacted; this is left implicit. The Hebrew text also contains a paragraph marker (פ) after "and Israel heard," setting off the following clause — vayihyu vene-Ya'aqov shenayim asar ("and the sons of Jacob were twelve") — as a distinct structural unit.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint (LXXSWETE) as given contains only the closing clause, "Ἦσαν δὲ οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰακὼβ δώδεκα" ("And the sons of Jacob were twelve"), omitting the entire account of Reuben, Bilhah, and Israel hearing of it that appears in the Hebrew (TAHOT) and the Vulgate.

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the terse Hebrew vayishma Yisrael ("and Israel heard") with an expanded clause, "quod illum minime latuit" ("which did not escape him at all"), supplying an interpretive nuance not present as a separate object or clause in the Hebrew's bare verb shama ("heard", H8085).

The Spanish SBLIBRE similarly expands the Hebrew's unstated reaction, adding "se enojó muchísimo" ("he became very angry"), a detail not present in the Hebrew, LXX, or Vulgate texts supplied.