Genesis 47:27

Summary

The verse narrates that Israel settled in Egypt, specifically in the land of Goshen, where they acquired holdings, and became numerous through fertility and multiplication. It closes the section on Jacob's family entering Egypt with a chain of four narrative verbs describing settlement, possession, and growth.

Key words

• va-yYeshev ("he dwelt", H3427) — qal narrative verb, third masculine singular, opening the sequence: "and he dwelt."
• Yisra'El ("Israel", H3478) — the proper name functioning as subject of the whole sentence, referring to the patriarch here representing the collective settling.
• va-yYe'achazu ("they had possessions" / "they took hold", H0270) — niphal narrative verb, third masculine plural; the niphal stem gives a passive or reflexive nuance, "they got themselves held/possessed" in the land.
• va-yYifru ("they were fruitful", H6509) — qal narrative verb, third masculine plural, part of the fixed pairing with the next verb.
• va-yYirbu ("they multiplied", H7235A) — qal narrative verb, third masculine plural, followed by me'Od ("exceedingly", H3966), intensifying the multiplication.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs, all attached by the narrative va (H9001) that link successive actions in sequence: yYeshev ("he dwelt"), yYe'achazu ("they had possessions"), yYifru ("they were fruitful"), yYirbu ("they multiplied"). The first verb has Yisra'El as its explicit singular subject, while the following three verbs shift to third masculine plural forms without a new subject stated, implying that the singular name Yisra'El is understood collectively as the group descended from him. The location is given twice in construct chains — 'Eretz mitzRayim ("land of Egypt", H0776G/H4714G) and 'Eretz Goshen ("land of Goshen", H0776G/H1657G) — narrowing from the general country to the specific region.

The verb yYe'achazu (H0270) is in the niphal stem, which contrasts with the surrounding qal verbs; this passive/reflexive form conveys the idea of "being seized" or "holding fast" to the land, rather than a simple active taking. The final pair, yYifru ("they were fruitful") and yYirbu ("they multiplied"), reinforced by me'Od ("exceedingly", H3966), forms a fixed verbal doublet expressing fertility and increase in number.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yYe'achazu ("they had possessions", H0270) with ἐκληρονόμησαν ("they inherited/took as inheritance"), and the Vulgate uses possedit ("he possessed," singular), keeping the grammatical subject as Israel singular rather than shifting to plural as the Hebrew niphal verb does. The Hebrew's two consecutive qal verbs yYifru and yYirbu ("they were fruitful and they multiplied") are compressed in the LXX into a single verb, ἐπληθύνθησαν ("they were multiplied"), and in the Vulgate into auctusque est, et multiplicatus ("he was increased and multiplied"), which retains singular number where the Hebrew has plural verbs.