Genesis 49:13

Summary

Genesis 49:13 is part of Jacob's blessing describing Zebulun's future dwelling place: coastal territory near the sea, functioning as a harbor for ships, with its territorial flank reaching toward Sidon.

Key words

• Chof ("coast of / harbor of", H2348) — appears twice as a masculine singular construct noun, first paired with yamMim ("seas") and second with 'oniYot ("ships"), creating two parallel construct phrases describing the same maritime orientation from different angles.
• yishKon ("he will dwell", H7931) — qal imperfect, third person masculine singular; expresses an action seen as ongoing or future, and is the only finite verb in the entire verse.
• Hu' ("he", H1931) — independent personal pronoun introducing the second clause; since Hebrew verbs already encode person, this explicit pronoun adds emphasis or marks a shift in clause structure.
• yarkhaTo ("his side/flank", H3411 + H9023) — feminine singular construct noun with a third-person masculine singular suffix, referring back to Zebulun; used spatially to indicate a territorial edge or border.
• 'al ("upon/toward", H5921A) — preposition marking the directional relationship between Zebulun's yarkhaTo and tziDon ("Sidon", H6721H).

What the text says

The verse opens with the subject zeVulun, followed by the prepositional phrase le-Chof yamMim ("to the coast of seas") and the verb yishKon ("he will dwell"). This is the only clause in the verse with an explicit finite verb; the grammar marks a settled or continuing state through the imperfect aspect of yishKon.

The second clause, introduced by the conjunction ve- ("and") plus the independent pronoun Hu' ("he"), lacks its own verb: ve-Hu' le-Chof 'oniYot literally reads "and he, to a harbor of ships." Hebrew allows such verbless (nominal) clauses, where the sense of location or identification is understood without a stated verb — here the second Chof construct phrase functions almost as a restatement or intensification of the first, shifting from "seas" (yamMim) to "ships" ('oniYot) as the associated noun.

The final clause, ve-yarkhaTo 'al-tziDon ("and his flank/side upon Sidon"), is likewise verbless. The construct noun yarkhaTo with its pronominal suffix ties the geographic marker back to Zebulun, and the preposition 'al indicates a spatial relation toward the place name tziDon. No verb of motion or extension exists in the Hebrew text itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the second Chof phrase using an added verb, παρατενεῖ ("he will extend/stretch"), supplying an action not present in the Hebrew's verbless third clause. The Vulgate similarly inserts a participle, pertingens ("reaching"), to convey the sense of extension toward Sidon. The Hebrew text itself contains only one finite verb (yishKon) for the entire verse; the remaining two clauses are nominal, without stated verbs, and translations that render them with verbs ("will become," "shall extend") are supplying grammatical elements not explicit in the Masoretic construction.