Genesis 8:16

Summary

God commands Noah to leave the ark, specifying that he is to exit accompanied by his wife, his sons, and his sons' wives. The verse lists each member of the household individually using construct chains and pronominal suffixes.

Key words

• tze' ("go out", H3318G) — qal imperative masculine singular; a direct command addressed to Noah alone, grammatically singling him out as the primary addressee even though others accompany him.
• teVah ("ark", H8392) — feminine singular noun with the definite article ha (H9009), naming the specific structure Noah is to leave.
• 'ishteKha ("your wife", H0802H + H9021) — construct form of "wife" with a second-person masculine singular suffix, marking the possessive relationship "wife of you."
• baNeikha ("your sons", H1121A + H9021) — masculine plural construct of "sons" with the same suffix, structurally paralleling 'ishteKha.
• neshei-baNeikha ("wives of your sons", H0802H + H1121A + H9021) — a double construct chain: "wives" (construct plural) governs "sons" (also construct), which itself takes the suffix "your," producing a compact genitive stacking not directly reproducible in English without added prepositions.

What the text says

The verse opens with a single imperative, tze' ("go out", H3318G), directed grammatically at Noah as an individual (masculine singular form). The phrase min-hateVah ("from the ark", H4480A + H9009 + H8392) specifies the location being exited. The subject is then expanded by the independent pronoun 'atah ("you", H0859A), followed by a coordinated list joined with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) four times: "you," "your wife," "your sons," and "wives of your sons." Each family member after the first is expressed through a construct noun plus pronominal suffix "-kha" ("your", H9021), a pattern that in Hebrew ties possession tightly to the noun itself rather than through a separate possessive word.

The final phrase, 'itakh ("with you", H0854 + H9031), closes the verse by re-anchoring the whole group back to Noah using a second-person suffix on the preposition "with." This creates a structural frame: the command begins with Noah alone ("go out... you") and ends by gathering everyone back around him ("...with you"), even though the imperative verb form remains singular throughout.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the list as "tu et uxor tua, filii tui et uxores filiorum tuorum," splitting the group into two pairs ("you and your wife," "sons and wives of your sons") rather than following the Hebrew's four-part list joined uniformly by "and." The LXXSWETE similarly groups them with καί ("and") repeated four times, closely matching the Hebrew's construct chain "wives of the sons of you" (αἱ γυναῖκες τῶν υἱῶν σου). The SBLIBRE Spanish translation uses "nueras" ("daughters-in-law") as a single word for neshei-baneikha, collapsing the two-part construct chain into one noun, whereas the Hebrew expresses this relationship through two linked construct nouns rather than a single lexical item.