Genesis 18:21

Summary

The verse presents divine speech in which the cohortative forms 'eradah ("I will go down") and 'edda'ah ("I will know") frame an intention to investigate an "outcry" (tza'akah) that has reached the speaker. The clause structure moves from stated intention, to an embedded indirect question about whether the deed matches the report, to a conditional resolution.

Key words

• 'eradah ("I will go down", H3381) — qal form marked with the volitive particle na (H4994), expressing self-directed intention ("let me go down").
• tza'akatah ("its outcry", H6818) — feminine singular noun in construct state with a 3rd person feminine suffix ("outcry of it/her"), governed by the interrogative ha- (H9008) prefixed to the preposition ke- ("according to").
• ba'ah ("that has come", H0935) — feminine singular qal participle with the article ha- (H9009), functioning as a relative modifier of the outcry ("the outcry that is coming/has come").
• 'asu ("they have done", H6213) — qal perfect, 3rd person plural, marking completed action; paired with the noun kalah ("completion", H3617).
• 'edda'ah ("I will know", H3045) — qal cohortative, echoing 'eradah at the start of the verse and closing the unit.

What the text says

The sentence opens with two cohortative verbs, 'eradah ("I will go down") followed immediately by na — a particle that softens the assertion, giving it the sense of a deliberate, self-urged action rather than a blunt statement. This is followed by ve'er'eh ("and let me see"), a vav-consecutive imperfect expressing purpose: the descent is undertaken in order that seeing may occur.

The core of the verse is an indirect question introduced by the interrogative ha- attached to the preposition ke-: "whether according to its outcry." The construct chain tza'akatah ("outcry of it") is further specified by the participial clause habba'ah elai ("the one that has come to me"), describing the outcry as something already arrived. The verb 'asu ("they have done") governs the noun kalah ("completion" or "destruction"), so the clause asks whether the deed done matches in extent the outcry received — the grammar juxtaposes a report (tza'akah) against an accomplished act ('asu... kalah) without explicitly stating what kind of deed is meant.

The verse closes with a conditional, ve'im lo, ("and if not"), followed by the second cohortative edda'ah ("I will know"), which mirrors the opening 'eradah and creates a symmetrical frame around the entire statement.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the two Hebrew cohortatives ('eradah, edda'ah) differently: it opens with an aorist participle, καταβὰς ("having gone down"), followed by a future indicative ὄψομαι ("I will see"), and closes with a subjunctive purpose clause ἵνα γνῶ ("that I may know") rather than a parallel independent verb. The Vulgate similarly shifts the final cohortative into a purpose clause, "ut sciam" ("so that I may know"), rather than preserving the bookend structure visible in the Hebrew. Where the Hebrew states 'asu kalah ("they have done completion"), the LXX uses συντελοῦνται ("they are being completed/fulfilled"), and the Vulgate uses "opere compleverint" ("they have completed by deed") — both translations expand or interpret the terse Hebrew noun-verb pairing differently.