Genesis 49:15
וַיַּרְא מְנֻחָה כִּי טוֹב וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ כִּי נָעֵמָה וַיֵּט שִׁכְמוֹ לִסְבֹּל וַיְהִי לְמַס־עֹבֵֽד׃ ס
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיַּ֤רְא מְנֻחָה֙ כִּ֣י ט֔וֹב וְאֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ כִּ֣י נָעֵ֑מָה וַיֵּ֤ט שִׁכְמוֹ֙ לִסְבֹּ֔ל וַיְהִ֖י לְמַס־עֹבֵֽד׃ ס
καὶ ἰδὼν τὴν ἀνόπαυσιν ὅτι καλή, καὶ τὴν γῆν ὅτι πίων, ὑπέθηκεν τὸν ὦμον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸ πονεῖν, καὶ ἐγενήθη ἀνὴρ γεωργός.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Vidit requiem, quod esset bona et terram, quod optima: et supposuit humerum suum ad portandum, factusque est tributis serviens.
Al ver que el lugar de descanso era bueno, y que la tierra era agradable, inclinó sus hombros para llevar la carga, y se sometió a trabajos forzados.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y vió que el descanso era bueno, y que la tierra era deleitosa; y bajó su hombro para llevar, y sirvió en tributo.
He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse describes a figure (Issachar, in the wider blessing of Genesis 49) who observed that a resting place and a land were good and pleasant, and consequently bent his shoulder to carry a burden, becoming subject to forced labor. The sentence moves from perception (seeing) to physical action (bending) to a resulting state (becoming a laborer).
Key words
- menuchah ("a resting place", H4496) — feminine singular noun, the object of what is "seen" as good.
- na'emah ("it was pleasant", H5276) — qal perfect, third person feminine; agrees with ha'aretz ("the land"), describing a completed state rather than an ongoing process.
- shikhmo ("his shoulder", H7926 + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix; the construct form links it directly to the possessor via the suffix rather than a separate word.
- lisbol ("to carry a load", H5445) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition li; expresses purpose ("in order to carry").
- mas-oved ("forced labor of laboring", H4522 + H5647) — a construct chain pairing a noun ("forced labor of...") with a qal participle ("the one doing/laboring"); this doubling intensifies the sense of servitude by naming both the labor-system and the active state of laboring.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built on a chain of narrative verb forms (vayyar', vayyet, vayehi), each introduced by the narrative vav (H9001), which strings the actions in sequence: seeing, bending, becoming. The two clauses describing what was seen — "menuchah ki tov" and "ha'aretz ki na'emah" — use the particle ki (H3588A) in a subordinating sense ("that"), reporting the content of the perception rather than a separate assertion.
The final clause, "vayehi lemas-oved," uses a construct chain that stacks two labor-related terms: mas (H4522, "forced labor" as a system or levy) governs oved (H5647G, a qal participle, "one who labors/serves"). This construction names not just a status but an active, ongoing condition — "he became [one belonging] to forced-labor-of-a-laborer." The Hebrew does not specify an occupation (such as farming); it describes a change of status into subjugated, laboring service.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders na'emah ("pleasant") with πίων ("fat/rich"), a different sensory nuance than "pleasant." More notably, the LXX's closing clause, "ἐγενήθη ἀνὴρ γεωργός" ("he became a man, a farmer"), diverges from the Hebrew's mas-oved ("forced labor of a laborer"), introducing the specific occupation of farming where the Hebrew emphasizes servitude/forced labor without naming a trade. The Vulgate's "factusque est tributis serviens" ("he became one serving under tribute") stays closer to the servile sense of the Hebrew but frames it in terms of "tributis" (tribute/taxation) rather than the Hebrew's generic "forced labor."
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.