In Judith 13:31 in Vulgate, it says "Benedicta tu a Deo tuo in omni tabernaculo Jacob". Who is that Jacob and why is it in nominative?

Question

In Judith 13:31 in Vulgate, it says "Benedicta tu a Deo tuo in omni tabernaculo Jacob". Who is that Jacob and why is it in nominative? I guess it is supposed to mean "May you be blessed by your God in the entire tent of Jacob.", but I have no idea who would that Jacob be, nor why it is not in the genitive case.

Answer 1

Jacob is Israel

My Latin is poor but it seems that the genitive case is used because 'Jacob' is not the subject of the sentence. It is a name used to indicate who possesses something (tents):

"Genitive (genitivus): Generally translated by the English possessive, or by the objective with the preposition of.

As far as Jacob himself goes, the "entire tent of Jacob" is basically the same as the "house of Jacob" which is more familiar. It refers to the nation of Israel, which is Jacob's other name. The phrase conveys Achior's wish that Judith be blessed by the whole people of Israel.

29 videns autem Achior caput Holofernis angustiatus prae pavore cecidit in faciem suam super terram et aestuavit anima eius 30 postea vero quam resumpto spiritu recreatus est procidit ad pedes eius et adoravit eam et dixit 31 benedicta tu Deo tuo in omni tabernaculo Iacob quoniam in omni gente quae audierit nomen tuum magnificabit Deum Israhel super te

Then Achior seeing the head of Holofernes, being seized with a great fear he fell on his face upon the earth, and his soul swooned away. But after he had recovered his spirits he fell down at her feet, and reverenced her, and said: Blessed art thou by thy God in every tabernacle of Jacob, for in every nation which shall hear thy name, the God of Israel shall be magnified on occasion of thee.

Jacob is Israel, and his "entire tent" means either all of Jacob's tents or his whole house = the entire nation of Israel.

Answer 2

Everything Dan says is correct, but I'll add a bit about the form. I just did a little searching around in the Vulgate and it seems to me that "Iacob" is indeclinable, meaning that it won't change its form to express case, so you'll have to depend on context to figure that out (which in this case is genitive). This is common for transliterated words, which is very common for names especially.

It's odd that it's indeclinable in Latin though since it is inflected in Greek.