Genesis 20:16

Summary

Genesis 20:16 records words spoken to Sarah, in which the speaker states that a sum of silver has been given "to your brother" and describes this act using the idiom kesut enayim ("covering of eyes"). The final clause, built around the participle nokhachat, closes the statement but its exact grammatical function is debated in the versions.

Key words

• natati ("I give/I have given", H5414G) — Qal perfect, 1st person singular: marks the giving as a completed act reported by the speaker.
• kesef ("silver", H3701G) — masculine singular noun following the numeral 'elef ("a thousand", H0505G): specifies the amount and material given.
• kesut ("covering of...", H3682) — feminine singular construct: forms a construct chain with the next word, "covering of X."
• enayim ("eyes", H5869A) — feminine dual: the paired body part completing the construct phrase kesut enayim.
• nokhachat ("the one vindicated/proven right", H3198) — Niphal participle, feminine singular: a passive/reflexive verbal form describing Sarah's resulting state, agreeing with her gender.

What the text says

The sentence opens with hinneh natati ("here, I have given") — the interjection hinneh ("here!", H2009) draws attention to the act of giving that follows in the perfect tense, presenting it as already accomplished. The gift is specified as 'elef kesef ("a thousand [of] silver"), addressed le-'achikh ("to your brother", H0251G with the feminine suffix), grammatically continuing to refer to the third party rather than to Sarah directly.

The core interpretive difficulty lies in hu lakh kesut enayim — literally "it [is] to you a covering of eyes." The construct chain kesut + enayim is idiomatic; the Hebrew gives only the literal image of "covering" applied to "eyes," without an explicit abstract sense such as "vindication," which appears in some translations as an interpretive rendering rather than a literal one.

The closing phrase ve-'et kol ve-nokhachat ("and all/everyone, and [she is] vindicated/proven right") is syntactically compressed: the noun kol ("all", H3605) appears twice in the verse (once construct-linked to "who are with you," once standalone), and the final word nokhachat is a Niphal participle agreeing with the feminine subject (Sarah), but the Hebrew does not supply an explicit verb linking it smoothly to the preceding "and all."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders kesut enayim as εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ προσώπου σου ("for honor of your face"), an abstract rendering differing from the Hebrew's literal "covering of eyes." The Vulgate keeps the literal image, velamen oculorum ("veil of the eyes"), but adds ad omnes qui tecum sunt, et quocumque perrexeris ("to all who are with you, and wherever you go") and closes with mementoque te deprehensam ("and remember you were caught"), material not present in the Hebrew's nokhachat. Where the Hebrew ends with a participle describing Sarah's state, the LXX instead uses an imperative, ἀλήθευσον ("speak the truth"), addressed to her — a distinct grammatical mood not found in the Hebrew text.