וַֽ/יְהִ֞י

𐤅/𐤉𐤄𐤉

vayehi

And it came to pass

a primitive root (compare הָוָא); to exist, i.e. be or become, come to pass (always emphatic, and not a mere copula or auxiliary); beacon, [idiom] altogether, be(-come), accomplished, committed, like), break, cause, come (to pass), do, faint, fall, [phrase] follow, happen, [idiom] have, last, pertain, quit (one-) self, require, [idiom] use.

H1961

Genesis 43:21 · Word #1

Lexicon H1961

Lemmaהָיָה
Lemma (Paleo)𐤄𐤉𐤄
Transliterationhâyâh
Strong'sH1961
In-contextAnd it came to pass

Morphology HC/Vqw3ms All morphology codes

Part of Speech V — Verb — An action or state
Binyan q — Qal — Simple active
Conjugation w — Sequential Imperfect — Imperfect with waw-consecutive, narrating past events
Person 3 — 3rd person — Third person ("he/she/they")
Gender m — Masculine — Masculine
Number s — Singular — Singular

SIBI-P1 H1961-75

And he became

Rootהיה (h-y-h)
Core Meaningsto be, to exist, to become, to occur, to happen
Semantic Rangeto exist or be; to become or come to be; to happen or come to pass; to occur (often emphatic in narrative); rarely auxiliary
Conceptual SignificanceAs the most frequent verb in the Hebrew Bible (over 3500 occurrences), הָיָה underscores divine sovereignty over existence and events, central to covenant promises (e.g., God's self-revelation as 'I AM' in Exodus 3:14) and narrative progression; in parashat Vayehi, it signals transitions amid blessing and death, highlighting life's transience under God's becoming purposes.
Morphological NotesHC/Vqw3ms: Vav-conjunctive prefix (וַֽ), Qal stem, waw-consecutive imperfect (יְהִי), 3rd person masculine singular; functions as a narrative past tense in Hebrew prose.
Rendering RationaleThis rendering preserves the core root meaning of 'to be/become/exist' by using 'became' to emphasize the emphatic sense of transformation or occurrence, avoiding mere copula translations; it reflects the morphology as a 3ms consecutive imperfect (waw-consecutive Qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular), with 'he' matching the masculine singular subject and 'and' capturing the vav-conversive prefix that shifts the tense to past narrative sequence.

AI-generated (perplexity/sonar-pro)

Words from Root היה (to be, to exist, to become, to occur, to happen)

SILEX Code Transliteration SIBI-P1
H3068-01 bayhovah in-the-Self-Existent-One
H3068-02 bayhvah in the Self-Existent One
H3050-01 beyah in Yah

Word Usage (3575 occurrences of H1961)

Location Form Transliteration Meaning
Genesis 1:2 הָיְתָ֥ה hayetah was
Genesis 1:3 יְהִ֣י yehi let there be
Genesis 1:3 וַֽ/יְהִי vayehi and there was
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