Numbers 13:22

Summary

The verse narrates the scouts' journey: they went up through the Negev and reached Hebron, a city inhabited by three men identified as descendants of Anak. A closing note states that Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

Key words

• ya'alu ("they went up", H5927) — qal narrative verb, third person plural, marking the sequential action "and then they went up."
• yelidei ("those born of", H3211) — masculine plural construct noun, linking the three names to what follows as "sons/offspring of."
• ha'Anak ("the Anak", H6061) — gentilic noun with definite article, identifying the group or ancestor from which Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai descend.
• nivnetah ("it was built", H1129) — niphal (passive) perfect, third person feminine singular, indicating a completed action done to Hebron rather than by an agent named in the clause.
• livnei ("before", from H6440 construct) — construct form of "face," used prepositionally to express temporal precedence ("before Zoan").

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence chain uses narrative vav forms (va-ya'alu, va-yavo) to present the scouts' movement as a sequence of actions: going up through the Negev, then arriving at Hebron. The clause "ve-sham Ahiman, Sheshai, ve-Talmai yelidei ha-Anak" is a nominal, verbless clause — the adverb sham ("there") plus a list of names functions as the predicate, stating simply that these figures were present there, with yelidei ha-Anak in construct specifying their affiliation with Anak.

The final clause shifts to a passive niphal verb, nivnetah, which foregrounds the city (Hebron) as the grammatical subject undergoing construction, without naming a builder. The phrase shéva shanim ("seven years") functions as a time-duration modifier preceding the verb, and lifnei Tzo'an Mitzrayim uses the construct noun penei ("face of") in a temporal sense, "before" — comparing Hebron's founding date to that of Zoan in Egypt.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew text names the Negev, Hebron, and the figures Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai as yelidei ha-Anak, followed by the note on Hebron's construction date relative to Zoan. The LXX (Swete) instead reads "from the desert of Sin unto Rahab, as they enter into Ephaath," omitting the Hebrew's Negev/Hebron narrative and the Anak descendants clause, substituting different toponyms (Sin, Rahab, Ephaath). The Vulgate follows this same geographic framework ("a deserto Sin, usque Rohob intrantibus Emath"), diverging from the Hebrew's place and personal names. The Spanish and English versions given (RV1909, BSB, SBLIBRE) follow the Hebrew wording rather than the LXX/Vulgate pattern.