Genesis 9:29

Summary

This verse closes the Noah narrative by stating the total length of his life — nine hundred and fifty years — and reporting his death with the standard narrative formula.

Key words

• va-yihyu ("and they were", H1961) — qal narrative form of the verb "to be," opening the sentence as a continuation of the story (waw-consecutive + imperfect, functioning as past narrative).
• kol ("all", H3605) — construct form meaning "all of," linking to what follows to express totality: "all the days of."
• yemei ("days of", H3117) — plural construct of "day," forming the phrase "the days of Noah," a standard Hebrew idiom for a person's lifespan.
• tesha' me'ot ("nine hundred", H8672 + H3967) — construct numeral phrase, "nine hundred," combined with shanah ("year", H8141) to state the first part of the total.
• va-yamot ("and he died", H4191) — qal narrative form of "to die," closing the verse with the same waw-consecutive pattern used to open it.

What the text says

The verse is built with two narrative (waw-consecutive) verbs framing a numerical statement: va-yihyu ("and they were") at the start, and va-yamot ("and he died") at the end. Between them sits the construct chain kol-yemei-Noach ("all the days of Noah"), a fixed idiom in Biblical Hebrew for expressing a lifespan, followed by the number itself: tesha' me'ot shanah ("nine hundred years") plus va-chamishim shanah ("and fifty years"), giving nine hundred fifty years total. The number is split into two units joined by va ("and", H9002), a common way Hebrew narrates compound numbers rather than stating them as a single figure.

The repetition of the narrative vav-consecutive form at both ends of the verse (va-yihyu ... va-yamot) creates a symmetrical frame: the verse opens by marking the totality of Noah's days and closes by marking the end of his life, mirroring the pattern used elsewhere in Genesis for the deaths of patriarchs.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) contains a doubling of "days" — ἡμέραι ἡμέραι ("days days") — appearing twice, then renders the number as ἐννακόσια πεντήκοντα ἔτη ("nine hundred fifty years"), matching the Hebrew total but combining the two numeral units into one phrase rather than the Hebrew's split construction (nine hundred + fifty). The Vulgate (Clementine) uses nongentorum quinquaginta annorum ("of nine hundred fifty years"), also merging the two numbers, and adds ejus ("his") after dies, making explicit what the Hebrew construct yemei-Noach ("days of Noah") already indicates by the proper name.