Genesis 17:16
וּבֵרַכְתִּי אֹתָהּ וְגַם נָתַתִּי מִמֶּנָּה לְךָ בֵּן וּבֵֽרַכְתִּיהָ וְהָֽיְתָה לְגוֹיִם מַלְכֵי עַמִּים מִמֶּנָּה יִהְיֽוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וּבֵרַכְתִּ֣י אֹתָ֔הּ וְגַ֨ם נָתַ֧תִּי מִמֶּ֛נָּה לְךָ֖ בֵּ֑ן וּבֵֽרַכְתִּ֙יהָ֙ וְהָֽיְתָ֣ה לְגוֹיִ֔ם מַלְכֵ֥י עַמִּ֖ים מִמֶּ֥נָּה יִהְיֽוּ׃
εὐλογήσω δὲ αὐτήν, καὶ δώσω σοι ἐξ αὐτῆς τέκνον. καὶ εὐλογήσω αὐτόν, καὶ ἔσται εἰς ἔθνη, κοὶ βασιλεῖς ἐθνῶν ἐξ αὐτοῦ ἔσονται.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Et benedicam ei, et ex illa dabo tibi filium cui benedicturus sum: eritque in nationes, et reges populorum orientur ex eo.
Yo la bendeciré y, por medio de ella, te daré un hijo. Sí, la bendeciré y será madre de naciones; de ella saldrán reyes de pueblos”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y bendecirla he, y también te daré de ella hijo; sí, la bendeciré, y vendrá á ser madre de naciones; reyes de pueblos serán de ella.
And I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will descend from her.”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 17:16 records a divine speech announcing a blessing on Sarah, the promise that she will produce a son, and the further declaration that she will become the source of nations and kings. The verse is built as a chain of sequential perfect verbs describing what will unfold from this blessing.
Key words
- ve.rakh.Ti ("I will bless", H1288) — piel (intensive) sequential perfect, first person; appears twice in the verse, framing the announcement of blessing on Sarah at both the start and after the birth-promise.
- na.Ta.ti ("I will give", H5414G) — qal perfect, first person; introduces the specific content of the blessing, the giving of a son.
- Ben ("a son", H1121A) — masculine singular noun; the direct object of na.Ta.ti, naming what will be given.
- go.Yim ("nations", H1471A) — masculine plural noun following the preposition le. ("into"), marking the result Sarah will become.
- mal.Khei ("kings of", H4428G) — masculine plural construct noun, linking directly to 'a.Mim ("peoples", H5971A) to form "kings of peoples."
What the text says
The verse opens with a narrative vav attached to ve.rakh.Ti ("and I will bless"), continuing a sequence of divine statements. The direct object marker 'o.Ta with the suffix -h ("her") identifies Sarah as the one blessed. The adverb Gam ("also") introduces a second element, na.Ta.ti ("I will give"), whose object is Ben ("a son") preceded by mi.Me.nah ("from her") and le.Kha ("to you"), specifying that the son comes from Sarah to Abraham.
The verb ve.rakh.Ti recurs with the suffix -ha ("her"), repeating the blessing formula before the narrative continues with ha.ye.Tah ("she will become"), a sequential perfect describing Sarah's resulting status: le.go.Yim ("into nations"). The final clause uses mal.Khei 'a.Mim ("kings of peoples") in construct relation, followed by mi.Me.nah ("from her") and the imperfect yih.Yu ("they will be"), indicating an ongoing or future result — kings issuing from her line. The repetition of mi.Me.nah ("from her") in both the son-clause and the kings-clause structurally ties the individual birth to the larger outcome of multiple nations and rulers.
Differences between versions
The second occurrence of ve.rakh.Ti + -ha ("I will bless her") is rendered in the LXX as εὐλογήσω αὐτόν ("I will bless him"), using a masculine pronoun where the Hebrew suffix is feminine, referring to Sarah. The Vulgate follows a reading closer to the Hebrew but adds an interpretive clause, "cui benedicturus sum" ("whom I am about to bless"), not present as a separate clause in the Hebrew text. Where the Hebrew has Ben ("a son"), the LXX uses τέκνον ("child"), a broader term than the Hebrew's specifically male-referring noun.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.