Genesis 9:19

Summary

The verse identifies the three sons of Noah just named and states that "from these" the whole earth nafetzah ("dispersed/spread out", H5310B). The Hebrew construction places "the earth" as the grammatical subject of a verb of scattering, rather than presenting the sons or their descendants as being scattered.

Key words

• she.lo.Shah ("three", H7969) — cardinal number opening the sentence, quantifying the sons of Noah restated from the prior verse.
• benei ("sons of", H1121A) — masculine plural construct form, linking directly to Noach ("Noah", H5146) to form "sons of Noah."
• me'Elleh ("from these", H9006 + H0428) — preposition min attached to the demonstrative 'elleh, marking the point of origin ("from these [three]").
• nafetzah ("she dispersed/scattered", H5310B) — qal perfect, third person feminine singular. The feminine form agrees with the feminine noun that follows as its subject.
• kol ha'aretz ("all the earth", H3605 + H0776G) — construct chain kol + definite noun ha'aretz, functioning as the subject of the verb nafetzah.

What the text says

The sentence divides into two clauses joined by waw. The first, sheloshah 'elleh benei-Noach, is a nominal (verbless) clause: "three, these [are] sons of Noah," restating the count and identity established in the surrounding narrative. The second clause, u-me'elleh nafetzah khol-ha'aretz, begins with the prepositional phrase me'elleh ("from these") fronted for emphasis, followed by the verb nafetzah and its subject khol ha'aretz.

Grammatically, the qal perfect nafetzah is a finite verb agreeing in gender (feminine) and number (singular) with ha'aretz ("the earth"), which is grammatically feminine in Hebrew. This means the Hebrew text presents "the earth" itself as the entity performing the action of nafatz ("to disperse/scatter", H5310B) — the earth "dispersed" or "spread out" from these three, rather than a passive statement that people were scattered across the earth.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb as diesparēsan ("were scattered"), a passive form whose implied subject is people (matching the earlier "sons of Noah"), not "the earth" as grammatical agent. The Vulgate reads disseminatum est omne genus hominum ("the whole race of men was disseminated"), inserting the phrase "genus hominum" ("race of men") that has no corresponding word in the Hebrew text, and casting the verb in a passive/impersonal construction. The BSB "the whole earth was populated" and RV1909 "toda la tierra fué llena" similarly shift toward a passive sense not present in the Hebrew's active qal form with ha'aretz as subject.