Genesis 17:4

Summary

The verse opens a divine declaration with the emphatic pronoun 'ani ("I", H0589) followed by the interjection hinneh ("here!", H2009), introducing a nominal statement about the covenant. It then shifts to a verbal clause describing a future transformation: the addressee will become "father of a multitude of nations."

Key words

• 'ani ("I", H0589) — independent personal pronoun placed first for emphasis, isolating the speaker before any verb appears.
• hinneh ("here!", H2009) — interjection that draws attention to what follows; here it introduces the noun clause rather than a verb.
• beriti ("my covenant", H1285) — construct noun with 1st person suffix ("my"), naming the covenant as belonging to the speaker.
• hayita ("you will become", H1961) — qal sequential perfect (vav-consecutive), a verb form that continues a narrative sequence and here marks a future outcome.
• hamon ("multitude of", H1995A) — construct noun linking to goyim, forming a chain "father of a multitude of nations."

What the text says

The Hebrew begins with 'ani ("I", H0589) standing alone, not attached to any verb, followed immediately by hinneh ("here!", H2009). This combination produces a nominal clause: "I, behold, my covenant [is] with you" — there is no explicit verb "to be"; the copula is implied. The construct chain beriti ("my covenant", H1285) plus 'itakh ("with you", H0854 + suffix) states the relationship directly, without a linking verb supplied in the Hebrew text itself.

The clause then shifts register with vehayita ("and you will become", H1961), a sequential perfect verb form that carries the narrative forward from the nominal statement into a stated future development. This verb governs the phrase le'av hamon goyim ("to a father of a multitude of nations"), itself a double construct chain: 'av ("father of", H0001G) governs hamon ("multitude of", H1995A), which in turn governs goyim ("nations", H1471A). This stacking of construct forms in Hebrew compresses the idea into a single phrase without needing additional prepositions between each noun.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the opening with Καὶ ἐγώ ("And I"), adding a conjunction not present as a separate word in the Hebrew 'ani. The Vulgate inserts Dixitque ei Deus ("And God said to him"), a narrative frame not present in the Hebrew word list for this verse, and translates hinneh as sum ("I am"), converting the interjection into a verb of being. RV1909 preserves hinneh more literally as "he aquí" ("behold"), while BSB paraphrases the opening as "As for Me, this is My covenant," merging 'ani and hinneh into a single introductory phrase without a separate rendering of "behold."