Genesis 17:27
וְכָל־אַנְשֵׁי בֵיתוֹ יְלִיד בָּיִת וּמִקְנַת־כֶּסֶף מֵאֵת בֶּן־נֵכָר נִמֹּלוּ אִתּֽוֹ׃ פ
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וְכָל־אַנְשֵׁ֤י בֵיתוֹ֙ יְלִ֣יד בָּ֔יִת וּמִקְנַת־כֶּ֖סֶף מֵאֵ֣ת בֶּן־נֵכָ֑ר נִמֹּ֖לוּ אִתּֽוֹ׃ פ
καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄνδρες τοῦ οἴκου αὐτοῦ καὶ οἱ οἰκογενεῖς καὶ οἱ ἀργυρώνητοι ἐξ ἀλλοἐθνῶν, περιέτεμεν αὐτούς.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
et omnes viri domus illius, tam vernaculi, quam emptitii et alienigenæ pariter circumcisi sunt.
Y con él fueron circuncidados todos los varones de su casa, tanto los nacidos en ella como los que habían sido comprados a los extranjeros.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y todos los varones de su casa, el siervo nacido en casa, y el comprado por dinero del extranjero, fueron circuncidados con él.
And all the men of Abraham’s household — both servants born in his household and those purchased from foreigners — were circumcised with him.
✦ What the text says
Summary
Genesis 17:27 states that every male in Abraham's household — those born into it and those acquired by purchase from foreigners — underwent circumcision together with him. The verse closes the circumcision narrative begun earlier in the chapter by confirming that the command was carried out for the entire household, not only for Abraham himself.
Key words
- khol ("all", H3605) — construct form linking to "men of his household," marking totality of the group described.
- 'anshei ("[the] men of", H0582) — masculine plural construct, the head noun for the whole list of household males that follows.
- yelid ("one born of", H3211) — singular construct, describing the category of male born within the household, i.e. not brought in from outside.
- miknat ("a purchase of", H4736) — feminine singular construct, paired with kesef ("silver", H3701G), designating the category of male acquired by monetary transaction.
- nimmolu ("they were circumcised", H4135A) — niphal (passive/reflexive) perfect, third person plural: the verb form shows the action as completed and performed upon the subjects rather than by them.
What the text says
The sentence is built as a long compound subject followed by a single verb. The subject chain runs: khol 'anshei veito ("all the men of his household") is then specified by two categories in apposition — yelid bayit ("one born of the household") and miknat-kesef me'et ben-nekhar ("a purchase of silver from a son of foreignness"). Only after this full enumeration does the verb nimmolu ("they were circumcised") appear, followed by itto ("with him"). The niphal form of nimmolu places the household members in the grammatical position of those acted upon, not the agents of the action; the text does not name who performed the circumcision, only that it happened to them, together with Abraham (itto).
The phrase ben-nekhar ("son of foreignness", H5236) functions as an idiom for a foreign-born individual, and its combination with miknat kesef ("purchase of silver") specifies that this category of household male was acquired by purchase, distinguishing it from those born into the household (yelid bayit). The direct object marker 'et (H0854) appears here governed by the preposition min ("from", H9006) as me'et, indicating source ("from a son of foreignness") rather than marking a direct object.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew verb nimmolu is niphal (passive), presenting the household males as recipients of the action with no stated agent ("they were circumcised"). The Vulgate matches this with the passive circumcisi sunt ("were circumcised"). The LXX, however, renders the clause with an active verb, περιέτεμεν αὐτούς ("he circumcised them"), explicitly supplying Abraham as the grammatical subject performing the action — a shift from passive to active voice not present in the Hebrew construction.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.