Genesis 36:14
וְאֵלֶּה הָיוּ בְּנֵי אָהֳלִיבָמָה בַת־עֲנָה בַּת־צִבְעוֹן אֵשֶׁת עֵשָׂו וַתֵּלֶד לְעֵשָׂו אֶת־יְעוּשׁ וְאֶת־יַעְלָם וְאֶת־קֹֽרַח׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְאֵ֣לֶּה הָי֗וּ בְּנֵ֨י אָהֳלִיבָמָ֧ה בַת־עֲנָ֛ה בַּת־צִבְע֖וֹן אֵ֣שֶׁת עֵשָׂ֑ו וַתֵּ֣לֶד לְעֵשָׂ֔ו אֶת־יְע֥וּשׁ וְאֶת־יַעְלָ֖ם וְאֶת־קֹֽרַח׃
οὖτοι δὲ υἱοὶ Ἐλιβέμας τρὸς Ἀνὰ τοῦ υἱοῦ Σεβεγώβν, γυναικὸς Ἠσαύ. ἔτεκεν δὲ τῷ τῷ Ἠσαὺ τὸν Ἰεὺς καὶ τὸν Ιεγλὸμ καὶ τὸν κόρε.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Isti quoque erant filii Oolibama filiæ Anæ filiæ Sebeon, uxoris Esau, quos genuit ei, Jehus et Ihelon et Core.
Éstos son los hijos que Aholibama, esposa de Esaú, hija de Aná y nieta de Zibeón, le dio a Esaú: Jeús, Jalam y Coré.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Estos fueron los hijos de Aholibama, mujer de Esaú, hija de Ana, que fué hija de Zibeón: ella parió á Esaú á Jeús, Jaalam, y Cora.
These are the sons of Esau ’s wife Oholibamah ( daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon) whom she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 36:14 lists the three sons that Oholibamah bore to Esau — Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. The verse first identifies Oholibamah through a chain of genealogical connections (to Anah, to Zibeon) before naming her as Esau's wife, then narrates the birth of her sons.
Key words
- bat ("daughter of", H1323G) — feminine singular construct, used twice in the chain bat-'Anah / bat-Tzivon, linking Oholibamah to Anah and Anah (or Oholibamah) to Zibeon through successive construct relationships.
- 'Eshet ("wife of", H0802H) — feminine singular construct, attaches Oholibamah's identity to Esau as the final term of the genealogical chain.
- va-Teled ("and she bore", H3205) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking the main narrated action of the verse after the genealogical introduction.
- 'et (H0853) — the direct object marker, repeated three times before each son's name (Ye'ush, Ya'lam, Qorach), marking each as the grammatical object of va-Teled.
- 'Eleh ("these", H0428) — demonstrative particle opening the verse, pointing forward to the list of sons about to be given.
What the text says
The verse opens with the demonstrative 'Eleh ("these") followed by hayu ("they were", H1961, qal perfect), setting up a statement of identity: "these were the sons of Oholibamah." The genealogical description that follows is built entirely through construct chains: bat-'Anah ("daughter of Anah") and bat-Tzivon ("daughter of Zibeon") stack one after another before 'Eshet 'Esav ("wife of Esau"). Hebrew construct chains do not grammatically specify how many generations separate each link; the text simply juxtaposes "daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon," leaving to the reader whether this describes two parallel facts about Oholibamah or a chain in which Anah is herself daughter of Zibeon.
After this identification, the vav-consecutive verb va-Teled switches the sentence into narrative action: "and she bore to Esau." Each son's name is preceded by the object marker 'et, a grammatical device with no independent meaning that simply flags Jeush, Jalam, and Korah as the objects of the verb "bore."
Differences between versions
The LXX renders the second link in the genealogical chain differently in gender: where the Hebrew consistently uses bat ("daughter of", feminine), the Greek text has "τοῦ υἱοῦ Σεβεγών" ("the son of Sebegon"), making Zibeon's child a son rather than a daughter. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's chain of "filiae...filiae" ("daughter of...daughter of"), preserving the feminine construct pattern.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.