Genesis 47:28

Summary

The verse states that Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, and that the total span of his life reached one hundred forty-seven years. The sentence is built in two parallel parts, each introduced by a narrative verb form, first recording his years in Egypt and then summarizing his entire lifespan.

Key words

• va-y.Chi ("and he lived", H2421) — qal narrative form of the verb "to live," opening the first clause and advancing the story sequence.
• 'E.retz ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular construct noun linking to "Egypt," forming the phrase "land of Egypt."
• va-y.Hi ("and it was", H1961) — qal narrative form of "to be," opening the second clause that introduces the life-total summary.
• she.Nei chai.Yav ("years of his life", H8141 + H2416E) — construct chain, masculine plural, meaning "the years of his life," paired with ye.mei-ya.'a.Ko ("the days of Jacob") in an appositional structure.
• me.'At sha.Nah ("hundred of year[s]", H3967 + H8141) — feminine singular construct combined with the preceding numbers she.Va' ("seven", H7651) and 'ar.ba.'Im ("forty", H0705) to build the compound number "one hundred forty-seven."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two balanced clauses, each opened by a vav-consecutive verb (va-y.Chi, "and he lived"; va-y.Hi, "and it was"), a common narrative pattern that moves the story forward step by step. The first clause states the duration of Jacob's residence in Egypt using the construct number phrase she.Va' 'es.Reh sha.Nah ("seventeen years"), with "seventeen" built from "seven" (H7651) plus "teen" (H6240), both in construct form governing sha.Nah ("year", H8141).

The second clause restates the total lifespan using an appositional construction: ye.mei-ya.'a.Ko ("the days of Jacob") is placed in apposition with she.Nei chai.Yav ("the years of his life"), both phrases referring to the same referent — Jacob's total years — with the second phrase clarifying and specifying the first. The number itself, "one hundred forty-seven," is built compositionally: sha.Va' ("seven"), 'ar.ba.'Im ("forty"), and me.'At ("hundred," in construct with sha.Nah), added together and connected by conjunctions (ve., u., H9002). This layered numerical construction, rather than a single cardinal word, is characteristic of Biblical Hebrew's way of expressing large numbers as sums of smaller units.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the double phrase "the days of Jacob, the years of his life" more compactly as "the days of Jacob, of the years of his life" (αἱ ἡμέραι Ἰακὼβ ἐνιαυτῶν τῆς ζωῆς αὐτοῦ), collapsing the Hebrew's parallel apposition into a single genitive chain. The Vulgate simplifies further, omitting the name "Jacob" and the phrase "days of Jacob" in the second clause, using only "omnes dies vitae illius" ("all the days of his life"), which does not preserve the Hebrew's repetition of ye.mei ("days of") and she.Nei ("years of").