Genesis 13:15

Summary

Genesis 13:15 records a declaration in which the speaker promises to give "all the land" that is being seen to a second party and to that party's offspring, described as lasting "until perpetuity." The verse is structured as a causal or explanatory clause introduced by ki ("for", H3588A).

Key words

• ki ("for", H3588A) — a subordinating particle that introduces the clause as an explanation or basis for something stated previously; it can function as "for," "that," or "if" depending on context.
• ro'eh ("[are] seeing", H7200G) — a qal participle, masculine singular, describing an ongoing action ("the one doing"); here it presents the seeing as a present, continuous state rather than a completed act.
• 'etten-Enah ("I will give it", H5414G) — a qal imperfect first-person form of the verb "to give," expressing future or ongoing action; the final -nah (H9034) is a pronominal suffix meaning "it/her," referring back to ha'aretz ("the land", H0776G), which is grammatically feminine.
• zar'a-kha ("your offspring", H2233H + H9021) — a construct noun ("offspring of") joined to the second-person masculine singular suffix "your," forming "your offspring" as the second recipient of the gift.
• 'ad-'olam ("until perpetuity", H5704 + H5769G) — a prepositional phrase combining "until" with "perpetuity/eternity," marking the temporal extent of the statement.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with ki, which sets up the clause as grounding or explaining a prior statement (the causal or asseverative sense of "for"). The object of the giving — kol ha'aretz ("all the land", H3605 + H0776G) — is marked by the direct object particle 'et (H0853), which itself carries no independent meaning but signals that "the land" is the object of the verb that follows. This object is further specified by a relative clause, 'asher 'attah ro'eh ("which you are seeing"), where the participle ro'eh presents the seeing as a present, unfolding action rather than a single past event.

The verb 'ettenennah ("I will give it") is a first-person qal imperfect with a third-person feminine singular suffix attached, referring back to "the land" grammatically as feminine. This suffix allows the Hebrew to avoid repeating the noun "land" a second time. The recipients are marked by two prepositional phrases: lekha ("to you", H9005+H9031) and ul'zar'akha ("and to your offspring", H9002+H9005+H2233H+H9021), joined by the conjunction u ("and", H9002). The temporal phrase 'ad-'olam ("until perpetuity") closes the sentence, indicating the extent of the giving without specifying a further terminus within the clause itself.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ki with hoti ("because/that"), similarly functioning as a subordinating conjunction, while the Vulgate omits an equivalent for ki entirely, beginning directly with "Omnem terram" ("all the land"), presenting the statement without an explicit causal or explanatory marker. The Hebrew 'ettenennah ("I will give it") uses a suffixed verb form, whereas the LXX (dōsō autēn, "I will give it") and Vulgate (dabo, "I will give") render this with a separate pronoun or leave it implicit, since Greek and Latin verb morphology does not attach object suffixes the same way.