Genesis 49:2

Summary

Jacob calls his sons to gather and listen, addressing them first as "sons of Jacob" and then as sons who must listen to their father, named here as "Israel." The verse uses two parallel imperative commands built on repetition of the verb "listen."

Key words

• hikkavtsu ("assemble", H6908) — niphal imperative, plural; the niphal stem gives a passive/reflexive sense, "gather yourselves together," addressed to multiple sons.
• shim'u ("listen", H8085G) — qal imperative, plural; this exact form appears twice in the verse, creating a repeated command structure.
• benei ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct; grammatically bound to the following name, producing the phrase "sons of Jacob."
• Ya'aqov ("Jacob", H3290) — proper name completing the construct chain with benei. diff
• avichem ("your father", H0001G + H9026) — noun in construct form with a second-person masculine plural suffix attached, meaning "father of you (pl.)"; this construct-plus-suffix unit is bound appositionally to Yisra'el ("Israel", H3478).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built on three imperative verbs in sequence: hikkavtsu ("assemble," niphal), followed by shim'u ("listen," qal) repeated twice. The first shim'u is paired with the vocative construct phrase benei Ya'aqov ("sons of Jacob"), while the second shim'u takes the preposition 'el ("to") governing Yisra'el avichem ("Israel your father"). Grammatically, "Israel" and "your father" are not separate items but form one appositional unit — the proper name Yisra'el stands directly beside the construct noun avichem, so the Hebrew reads "to Israel, your father," identifying one figure by two designations.

The repetition of shim'u creates a parallel structure: first the sons are called by their relationship to "Jacob," then the same command to listen is redirected toward the same figure now called "Israel," their "father." This double naming within one imperative frame highlights two names for the same speaker without the Hebrew text itself commenting on why both are used.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the passage with three listening-imperatives (ἀκούσατέ μου, ἀκούσατε Ἰσραήλ, ἀκούσατε τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν) where the Hebrew has only two instances of shim'u. The LXX also adds μου ("of me") after the first ἀκούσατε, an object not present in the Hebrew text as given. Additionally, the LXX separates "Israel" and "your father" into two distinct vocative/imperative units (ἀκούσατε Ἰσραήλ ... ἀκούσατε τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν), whereas the Hebrew and the Vulgate ("audite Israël patrem vestrum") keep Yisra'el and avichem together as a single appositional phrase, "Israel your father," under one verb of listening.