Genesis 20:17
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּל אַבְרָהָם אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִים וַיִּרְפָּא אֱלֹהִים אֶת־אֲבִימֶלֶךְ וְאֶת־אִשְׁתּוֹ וְאַמְהֹתָיו וַיֵּלֵֽדוּ׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיִּתְפַּלֵּ֥ל אַבְרָהָ֖ם אֶל־הָאֱלֹהִ֑ים וַיִּרְפָּ֨א אֱלֹהִ֜ים אֶת־אֲבִימֶ֧לֶךְ וְאֶת־אִשְׁתּ֛וֹ וְאַמְהֹתָ֖יו וַיֵּלֵֽדוּ׃
προσηύξατο δὲ Ἀβραάμ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ ἰάσατο ὁ θεὸς τὸν Ἀβιμέλεχ καὶ τὴν γυναῖκα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς παιδίσκας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἔτεκον·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Orante autem Abraham, sanavit Deus Abimelech et uxorem, ancillasque ejus, et pepererunt:
Entonces Abraham oró a Dios, y Dios sanó a Abimelec, a su esposa y a sus esclavas, para que pudieran tener hijos,
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Entonces Abraham oró á Dios; y Dios sanó á Abimelech y á su mujer, y á sus siervas, y parieron.
Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech and his wife and his maidservants, so that they could again bear children —
✦ What the text says
Summary
Abraham prays to God on behalf of Abimelech's household, and God heals Abimelech, his wife, and his female slaves, so that they are able to bear children again.
Key words
- va-yitpaLel ("he prayed", H6419) — hithpael (reflexive/self-involving) stem, narrative form; describes Abraham's act as one directed toward himself in relation to God, conventionally rendered "to pray."
- ha-Elohim ("the God", H0430G) — plural noun with definite article, functioning as a singular referent; here Abraham prays "to the God," with the article specifying the deity.
- va-yirPa' ("he healed", H7495) — qal (simple active) stem, narrative form; a direct causative action performed by the subject that follows.
- Elohim ("God", H0430G) — same plural noun as above, here without the article, acting as the subject of the healing.
- va-yeleDu ("they bore children", H3205) — qal narrative form, plural subject; marks the resulting outcome of the healing, that childbearing resumed.
What the text says
The verse is built from three narrative clauses linked by the va- ("and") prefix (H9001), each advancing the story in sequence: Abraham prayed, God healed, they bore children. This chain structure is typical of Biblical Hebrew narrative, where each verb form marks a new step following the previous one.
The object of the healing is introduced with the direct object marker 'et (H0853, untranslated) three times: 'et-'AviMelekh ("Abimelech"), ve-'et-'ishTo ("and his wife," from 'ishah, "wife," H0802H, in construct with the suffix "his"), and ve-'amhoTav ("and his female slaves," H0519, also construct with "his"). This threefold listing marks each party as a distinct recipient of the healing action performed by Elohim.
The final verb, va-yeleDu ("they bore children", H3205), is plural, agreeing with the combined subjects healed (Abimelech's wife and female slaves, understood as those capable of bearing children). The Hebrew text does not specify a reason clause ("so that") — the healing and the childbearing are simply presented as sequential narrative events joined by va-.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew text presents the childbearing (va-yeleDu) as a further narrative event ("and they bore children"), without an explicit purpose connector. Some translations (BSB, SBLIBRE) render this with a purpose or result clause ("so that they could bear children" / "para que pudieran tener hijos"), making explicit a causal relationship that the Hebrew va- construction leaves implicit as simple sequence. The LXX (ἔτεκον, "they bore") and Vulgate (pepererunt, "they bore") both preserve the same simple sequential structure as the Hebrew, without adding a purpose clause.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.