Genesis 14:22

Summary

Abram answers the king of Sodom by declaring that he has lifted his hand toward Yehovah, identified as El Elyon ("God Most High"), the one who is qoneh ("creator/possessor") of heaven and earth. The verse functions as a solemn oath formula introducing Abram's refusal (stated in the following verses) to accept goods from the king of Sodom.

Key words

• harimoti ("I raise", H7311A) — hiphil (causative) perfect, first person: a completed action, "I have raised/lifted," here functioning idiomatically with "hand" as an oath gesture.
• yadi ("my hand", H3027G + H9020) — construct noun with pronominal suffix "my," forming the phrase "my hand," the physical gesture accompanying the oath.
• El Elyon (H0410J + H5945H) — noun "God" followed by adjective "Most High," together forming a divine epithet describing Yehovah's supremacy.
• qoneh ("creator/possessor of", H7069) — qal participle, construct form: "the one who does/makes," here governing "heaven and earth," describing Yehovah's ongoing relationship to creation rather than a completed past act.
• shamayim va'aretz ("heaven and earth", H8064 + H0776G) — paired nouns joined by va ("and", H9002), a common merism for "the totality of creation."

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the narrative va (H9001) attached to yomer ("he said", H0559), the standard formula introducing direct speech in narrative sequence. Abram's reply is addressed el melekh Sedom ("to the king of Sodom", H0413 + H4428G + H5467), using the construct chain "king of Sodom" rather than a personal name for the addressee.

The core of the oath is built on harimoti yadi — a hiphil perfect verb with a construct noun plus suffix, literally "I have raised my hand," an idiomatic gesture of swearing. This is directed el YHWH ("to Yehovah"), followed by two further identifications in apposition: El ("God") and Elyon ("Most High"), and then the participle qoneh ("the one making/possessing"), which stands in construct with shamayim va'aretz ("heaven and earth"). Because qoneh is a participle rather than a finite verb, the Hebrew presents this as a standing characteristic of Yehovah — "the one who makes/possesses heaven and earth" — rather than a single completed event.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the verb with a future tense (ἐκτενῶ, "I will stretch out") where the Hebrew harimoti (H7311A) is a perfect ("I have raised"). The LXX also omits an equivalent for YHWH (H3068G), giving only "the God, the Most High" instead of the Hebrew's stacked "Yehovah, El, Elyon." The Vulgate renders harimoti with the present tense levo ("I raise") rather than a completed action. For qoneh (H7069), the Vulgate reads possessorem ("possessor"), while the BSB translates it as "Creator," reflecting two different senses available for the same participle.