Genesis 36:38

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Shaul died, and Baal Hanan, the son of Achbor reigned in his place.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

2 first appearances in the Hebrew Bible

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עַכְבּֽוֹר

ʻAkbôwr

H5907

“Achbor”

Noun, Proper

Appears 7× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: probably for H5909

TWOT: None

Achbor = "mouse" - father of king Baal-hanan of Edom - son of Michaiah and contemporary of king Josiah of Judah

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
7: distinct lemmas
Pentateuch: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is עַכְבּֽוֹר Achbor H5907 — appearing just 7 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

First appearance in Scripture

These words make their first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

בַּ֥עַל Baal-hanan H1177
עַכְבּֽוֹר Achbor H5907

Shared distinctive vocabulary

עַכְבּֽוֹר Achbor H5907 occurs in 7 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

2 verbs
5 nouns
1 preposition

Verb forms

וַיָּ֖מָת Qal · Sequential Imperfect
וַיִּמְלֹ֣ךְ Qal · Sequential Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

בַּ֥עַל Baal-hanan H1177 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 13 words from the Hebrew and 13 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the same length.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Genesis 36:38 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

וַיָּ֖מָת שָׁא֑וּל וַיִּמְלֹ֣ךְ תַּחְתָּ֔יו בַּ֥עַל חָנָ֖ן בֶּן עַכְבּֽוֹר

Shaul died, and Baal Hanan, the son of Achbor reigned in his place.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Genesis 36:38 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀποθνήσκω δέ σαουλ καί βασιλεύω ἀντί αὐτός βαλαεννων υἱός αχοβωρ

And Saul died; and Ballenon the son of Achobor reigned in his stead.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Onkelos Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמִית שָׁאוּל וּמְלַךְ תְּחוֹתוֹהִי בַּעַל חָנָן בַּר עַכְבּוֹר

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Onkelos — Aramaic: “Onkelos Genesis” (public domain); “Onkelos Exodus” (public domain); “Onkelos Leviticus” (public domain); “Onkelos Numbers” (public domain); “Onkelos Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “J.W. Etheridge. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch. London: Longmans, Green, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.
Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)

וּמִית שָׁאוּל וּמְלַךְ תְּחוֹתוֹי בַּעַל חָנָן בַּר עַכְבּוֹר

And Shaul died, and in his stead reigned Baal Hanan bar Akbor.

Targum Pseudo-Jonathan — Aramaic: “Targum Jonathan on Genesis” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Exodus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Leviticus” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Numbers” (public domain); “Targum Jonathan on Deuteronomy” (public domain). English: “The Targum of Jonathan ben Uzziel, trans. J. W. Etheridge, London, 1862” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Genesis 36:38 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

38. Baal-hanan] i.e. “Baal is favourable,” suggesting the worship of Baal; cf. Elhanan, Johanan. The name is the same in meaning as Hannibal.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Duke Magdiel, Duke Iram,.... Magdiel also, Jerom (w) says, was in the country of Gabalena, formerly possessed by the dukes of Edom; and the Targum of Jonathan says, this duke was called Magdiel from the name of his city, which was a strong "migdal" or tower: and Jarchi's note upon this word is, this is Rome; so the Jewish writers elsewhere say (x), that Esau had an hundred provinces from Seir to Magdiel; as it is said, "Duke Magdiel, Duke Iram", this is Rome:

these be the dukes of Edom, according to their habitations, in the land of their possession; the former race of dukes, as has been observed, were dukes in the land of Edom, were sojourners in the land, at least had not sovereign dominion, or were not the only dukes in it; there were dukes of the race of Seir at the same time; but now these having driven out the Horites, were sole possessors and sovereign lords; and thus while Israel and his posterity were sojourners in a strange land, Esau and his family were possessors and lords of a country they could call their own:

he is Esau the father of the Edomites; that is, Edom, the dukes of whose race are before reckoned up; the same is Esau, who had the name of Edom from selling his birthright for a mess of red pottage: and this is the man from whom the Edomites or Idumeans sprung, often hereafter spoken of in the Scripture, though no more in this history. He is said (y) to be killed by the tribes of Israel, at the funeral of Jacob, he coming forth with a great army to hinder his interment in the cave of Machpelah: it is a tradition of the Jews (z), he was slain by Judah.

(w) De loc. Heb. 3. fol. 93. B. (x) Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. (y) Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 5. 1. (z) T. Hieros. Gittin, fol. 47. 2.

Next: Genesis Chapter 37

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The Pulpit Commentary

And Saul died, and Baal-hanan of Benignity" (Gesenius)the son of Achbor (Gesenius)reigned in his stead.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Genesis, in the Pentateuch, opens this verse with 8 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʻAkbôwr (“Achbor”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʻAkbôwr carries the sense “Achbor.” How does it shape the verse?
2 words here appear for the first time in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Genesis 36:39 shares the word «Achbor» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“Baal-hanan” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «וַיָּ֖מָת» is Qal Sequential Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

2 words make their first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 10 words in this verse.
“Baal-hanan” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.