Genesis 49:14

Summary

This verse from Jacob's blessings describes Issachar through an animal image: he is called chamor ("donkey of", H2543) garem ("bone", H1634), pictured as rovets ("lying down", H7257) between the mishpetayim ("two campfires", H4942). The sentence is a nominal clause with no verb "to be," typical of Hebrew poetic blessings.

Key words

• chamor ("donkey of", H2543) — construct form, meaning it does not stand alone but links to the next noun to form a single descriptive unit, "donkey of X."
• garem ("bone", H1634) — absolute noun completing the construct chain; together chamor garem forms a bound phrase describing a quality of the donkey through the word "bone."
• rovets ("lying down", H7257) — qal participle, masculine singular; participles in Hebrew describe an ongoing or characteristic state rather than a single completed action, so it presents "lying down" as Issachar's typical posture, not a one-time event.
• mishpetayim ("two campfires", H4942) — dual number noun with the definite article ha (H9009) attached; the dual explicitly marks a pair of the object rather than one or many, and the word appears only in this construction.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause has no explicit copula: it juxtaposes the name Yissakhar (H3485G) directly with the construct phrase chamor garem, letting the reader supply "is." The construct relationship between chamor and garem is grammatically tight — the first noun's usual absolute meaning is modified by attaching a second noun, producing a compound descriptor ("donkey of bone") whose exact semantic force depends on how garem is understood in this bound state.

The participle rovets extends the description temporally: rather than stating that the donkey lay down once, the participial form frames "lying down" as a continuous or habitual condition. This lying down occurs bein ("between", H0996G) — itself a construct word requiring a following noun — ha-mishpetayim, where the dual ending on mishpetayim specifies exactly two of whatever the noun denotes, with the definite article marking them as a known, specific pair.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (asinus fortis accubans inter terminos, "a strong donkey lying between the boundaries") and BSB ("strong donkey... sheepfolds") render chamor garem as describing physical strength and treat mishpetayim as boundaries or sheepfolds. The Spanish RV1909 ("asno huesudo... dos tercios") keeps a literal "bony donkey" and reads mishpetayim as "two thirds/portions," while SBLIBRE renders it "alforjas" (saddlebags). The LXX diverges most sharply: Ἰσσαχὰρ τὸ καλὸν ἑπεθύμησεν ("Issachar desired the good thing") does not preserve the donkey image at all, and it renders mishpetayim as κλήρων ("lots/inheritances"), a translation unrelated to campfires, sheepfolds, or boundaries found in the other versions.