Exodus 6:5
וְגַם׀ אֲנִי שָׁמַעְתִּי אֶֽת־נַאֲקַת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר מִצְרַיִם מַעֲבִדִים אֹתָם וָאֶזְכֹּר אֶת־בְּרִיתִֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
Tap a word to see its entry
✦ The same verse in five languages
וְגַ֣ם׀ אֲנִ֣י שָׁמַ֗עְתִּי אֶֽת־נַאֲקַת֙ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֥ר מִצְרַ֖יִם מַעֲבִדִ֣ים אֹתָ֑ם וָאֶזְכֹּ֖ר אֶת־בְּרִיתִֽי׃
καὶ ἐγὼ εἰσήκουσα τὸν στεναγμὸν τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραήλ, ὃν οἱ Αἰγύπτιοι καταδουλοῦνται αὐτούς, καὶ ἐμνήσθην τῆς διαθήκης ὑμῶν.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Ego audivi gemitum filiorum Israël, quo Ægyptii oppresserunt eos: et recordatus sum pacti mei.
Además, he escuchado los gemidos de los hijos de Israel, a quienes los egipcios tienen esclavizados, y me he acordado de mi pacto.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y asimismo yo he oído el gemido de los hijos de Israel, á quienes hacen servir los Egipcios, y heme acordado de mi pacto.
Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered My covenant.
✦ What the text says
Summary
In Exodus 6:5, God declares that he has heard the groaning of the Israelites under Egyptian forced labor and states that he has remembered his covenant. The verse combines a statement of perception (hearing) with a statement of recollection (remembering), both attributed to the speaker in first person.
Key words
- sha.Ma'.ti ("I have heard", H8085G) — qal perfect, first person singular; marks a completed act of hearing, not an ongoing process.
- na.'a.Kat ("[the] groaning of", H5009) — feminine singular construct noun, grammatically bound to bene Yisra'el, forming "groaning of the sons of Israel."
- ma.'a.vi.Dim ("[are] compelling to labor", H5647G) — hiphil participle, masculine plural; the hiphil stem indicates causation ("causing to serve/labor"), and the participle form presents Egypt's action as ongoing/continuous.
- va.'ez.Kor ("and I have remembered", H2142) — qal verb with narrative vav, linking this action sequentially to the previous clause ("and then I remembered").
- be.ri.T-i ("my covenant", H1285 + H9020) — feminine singular construct noun with first-person pronominal suffix, specifying whose covenant is in view.
What the text says
The verse opens with ve-gam 'ani ("and also I"), combining the conjunction ve (H9002), the adverb gam ("also", H1571), and the independent pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589). The independent pronoun is grammatically redundant since the verb sha.Ma'.ti already encodes first person, so its presence adds emphasis on the subject "I" performing the hearing.
The object of hearing is 'et-na.'a.Kat bene Yisra'el — a construct chain where na.'a.Kat ("groaning of", H5009) is bound to bene Yisra'el ("sons/people of Israel", H1121G + H3478), meaning the groaning belongs to or originates from Israel. This phrase is further specified by the relative clause introduced by 'a.Sher ("whom", H0834A): "whom Egypt is compelling to labor" (mitz.Ra.yim ma.'a.vi.Dim 'otam). Here ma.'a.vi.Dim is a hiphil participle, a stem that expresses causation — Egypt is not merely working but causing others to work. The participle form (rather than a finite verb) presents this as a characteristic or ongoing state.
The second half shifts from qal perfect (sha.Ma'.ti) to a qal form introduced by the narrative vav (va.'ez.Kor), which sequences the action: hearing is followed by remembering. The object is 'et-berit-i, "my covenant," with the first-person suffix -i (H9020) marking possession.
Differences between versions
The LXX renders berit-i ("my covenant") as τῆς διαθήκης ὑμῶν ("your covenant," plural "your"), differing from the Hebrew first-person suffix and from the Vulgate's pacti mei ("my covenant"), which matches the Hebrew's first-person possession.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.