Genesis 17:3

Summary

The verse narrates two consecutive actions: Abram falls on his face, and God speaks with him. It marks a transition in the chapter from an initial divine announcement to a direct address introduced by the formula "saying."

Key words

• yipol ("he fell", H5307G) — qal verb in narrative form (with narrative vav), describing a single completed action by Abram.
• panai ("face", H6440H) — masculine plural noun in construct form with the suffix "his" (-o), producing the idiomatic expression "on his face."
• yedabber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel verb (intensive stem) in narrative form, indicating that God's action of speaking is presented with more grammatical intensity than a simple qal.
• Elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun, here functioning as the grammatical subject of the verb yedabber.
• lemor ("saying", H0559) — qal infinitive with prefixed preposition le- ("to/for"), a formula that introduces direct speech that follows in the text.

What the text says

The verse is built on two clauses joined by the narrative vav (va-), a construction that chains sequential actions in Biblical Hebrew narrative: first vayipol ("and he fell"), then vayedabber ("and he spoke"). This structure presents the actions as a temporal sequence: Abram's action first, God's response second.

The word panai ("face") appears in plural construct form with a possessive suffix, which is normal in Hebrew for body parts like "face" (panim is grammatically plural even referring to a single face). The prepositional phrase 'al-panav ("on his face") describes the physical position of falling described by the verb yipol.

The verb yedabber is in piel stem, an intensive verbal form, contrasting with the qal stem of yipol. Grammatically this indicates that Hebrew marks a distinction in verbal intensity between Abram's action (simple stem) and God's action of speaking (intensive stem), though this stem distinction does not necessarily imply a difference in force of meaning translatable in all target languages.

The final infinitive lemor ("saying") functions as a formulaic introduction that announces direct speech will follow, syntactically closing this verse and opening the way for the content of the divine speech.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate (VULCLEM) only includes the first clause ("Cecidit Abram pronus in faciem") and omits the entire second part about God speaking, present in both the Hebrew text and the LXX. The LXX (ἐλάλησεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς λέγων) closely follows the Hebrew structure with verb + subject + participle "saying," while the Vulgate as presented here truncates the verse before that clause.