Genesis 49:33

וַיְכַל יַעֲקֹב לְצַוֹּת אֶת־בָּנָיו וַיֶּאֱסֹף רַגְלָיו אֶל־הַמִּטָּה וַיִּגְוַע וַיֵּאָסֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיְכַ֤ל יַעֲקֹב֙ לְצַוֹּ֣ת אֶת־בָּנָ֔יו וַיֶּאֱסֹ֥ף רַגְלָ֖יו אֶל־הַמִּטָּ֑ה וַיִּגְוַ֖ע וַיֵּאָ֥סֶף אֶל־עַמָּֽיו׃

Greek (Septuagint)

Καὶ κατέπαυσεν Ἰακὼβ ἐπιτάσσων τοῖς υἱοῖς αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐξάρας τοὺς πόδας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὴν κλίνην ἐξέλιπεν καὶ προσετέθη πρὸς τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ. L

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

—

Spanish

Cuando Jacob terminó de darles estas instrucciones a sus hijos, volvió a acostarse en la cama, exhaló su último suspiro y fue a reunirse con sus antepasados.

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y como acabó Jacob de dar órdenes á sus hijos, encogió sus pies en la cama, y espiró: y fué reunido con sus padres.

English

When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

✦ What the text says

Summary

Genesis 49:33 narrates the conclusion of Jacob's final instructions to his sons, followed by three sequential actions: he draws his feet onto the bed, dies, and is "gathered to his peoples." The verse marks the transition from Jacob's spoken blessings (the preceding chapter) to his death.

Key words

y.Khal ("he finished", H3615G) — piel verb, narrative form; the intensive stem here conveys completion of an action, marking the end of Jacob's speech.
tza.Vot ("command", H6680) — piel infinitive with the preposition le ("to"), forming a purpose/complementary construction with the preceding verb: "finished commanding."
va.yig.Va' ("he expired", H1478) — qal narrative verb; a simple-stem verb denoting the act of dying, distinct from the surrounding verbs.
va.ye.'A.sef ("he was gathered", H0622) — niphal (passive) narrative verb; contrasts with the earlier qal form of the same root in va.yye.'e.Sof ("he gathered", H0622, his feet), showing the same verbal root used once actively (gathering his feet) and once passively (being gathered to his peoples).
'a.Ma ("peoples", H5971B) — masculine plural noun in construct with the possessive suffix "his," literally "his peoples."

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four narrative (vav-consecutive) clauses, each advancing the action in sequence: Jacob finished (y.Khal) commanding his sons, then gathered (va.yye.'e.Sof) his feet into the bed, then expired (va.yig.Va'), then was gathered (va.ye.'A.sef) to his peoples. This chain structure is typical of Hebrew narrative prose, where each vav-prefixed verb marks the next event in temporal sequence.

A notable feature is the repetition of the root '-s-p (H0622) in two different stems: first in the qal form describing Jacob's own action of drawing his feet onto the bed, and second in the niphal (passive) form describing him being "gathered" to his 'a.Ma ("peoples", H5971B). The Hebrew noun here is grammatically plural ("peoples," construct with "his"), a form that recurs in Genesis for the deaths of the patriarchs.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew 'a.Ma ("peoples", H5971B, plural construct "his peoples") is rendered in the LXX as τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ("his people," singular), and in the Vulgate-derived Spanish (SBLIBRE) as "sus antepasados" ("his ancestors"). The LXX also translates y.Khal ... le.tza.Vot ("he finished commanding") with κατέπαυσεν ... ἐπιτάσσων ("he ceased ... commanding"), using a participle construction rather than the infinitive-plus-finite-verb pattern of the Hebrew. The RV1909 and BSB both render the plural construct as singular ("his fathers" / "his people" respectively, per the English and Spanish traditions), diverging from the Hebrew plural form.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.