Numbers 26:19

Summary

The verse identifies Er and Onan as sons of Judah and states that both died in the land of Canaan. It is a genealogical notice within the census list of Numbers 26, marking why these two names will not appear among the counted clans.

Key words

• be.Nei ("sons of", H1121G) — masculine plural construct noun, linking the following name (Judah) as the group to which Er and Onan belong.
• va.i.Ya.mot ("and he died", H4191) — qal verb with narrative vav, the standard form for reporting a sequential event ("and then he died") in Biblical Hebrew narration.
• 'E.retz ("land of", H0776G) — feminine singular construct noun, requiring a following noun (Canaan) to complete the phrase "land of X."
• 'er ("Er", H6147G) and 'o.Nan ("Onan", H0209) — proper names appearing twice each, first listed as sons of Judah, then repeated as the subjects of the death notice.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence divides into two clauses joined by the narrative vav on va.i.Ya.mot ("and he died"). The first clause is a bare list: be.Nei ye.hu.Dah ("sons of Judah") followed by the two names 'er and 'o.Nan joined by the conjunction ve ("and"). No verb is present in this first clause — it functions as a nominal genealogical statement, simply naming the sons.

The second clause repeats both names, 'er and 'o.Nan, as the subject of the singular verb va.i.Ya.mot ("and he died"). Although the verb is grammatically singular, it governs both named subjects, a construction common in Biblical Hebrew when reporting an event affecting more than one person listed sequentially. The location is given by the construct phrase be.'E.retz ke.Na.'an ("in the land of Canaan"), with the preposition be ("in") attached directly to 'E.retz ("land of"), which in turn stands in construct relation to ke.Na.'an ("Canaan").

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) renders the singular Hebrew verb with a plural construction, "qui ambo mortui sunt" ("who both died"), making explicit in Latin what the Hebrew leaves grammatically singular. The BSB and SBLIBRE also render the event with plural verbs ("died," "murieron"), consistent with the two named subjects. The Septuagint text supplied (LXXSWETE) corresponds to the sons of Issachar (Θωλά, Φουά) rather than to Judah's sons Er and Onan, so no direct Greek rendering of this Hebrew verse is available for comparison in the data given.