Genesis 21:29

Summary

Abimelech asks Abraham a question about seven ewe lambs that Abraham has set apart. The question concerns the meaning or purpose of this specific action — why these particular animals have been separated from the rest.

Key words

• mah ("what?", H4100) — interrogative pronoun opening the direct question; establishes that Abimelech is asking for an explanation, not making a statement.
• kevasot ("ewe-lambs", H3535) — feminine plural noun, the object of the inquiry; the feminine form matches the feminine pronoun henah ("they", H2007) used earlier in the verse.
• hitzavta ("you have set", H5324) — hiphil (causative) perfect, second person masculine singular; the causative stem indicates Abraham actively caused the animals to stand/be positioned, not merely that they stand on their own. The perfect aspect marks this as a completed action prior to the moment of speaking.
• levadanah ("by themselves/them alone", H0905H + H9039) — construct noun bad ("alone") with preposition le and third person feminine plural suffix nah ("them"), together meaning "for themselves alone" or "apart"; this phrase specifies the manner of separation — the lambs are isolated as their own distinct group.

What the text says

The verse is a narrative report introduced by the vav-consecutive va (H9001) attached to yomer ("he said", H0559), the standard construction for sequential narrative action ("and then he said"). The subject Avimelekh (H0040G) and addressee Avraham (H0085) are both proper names linked by the preposition el ("to", H0413), establishing direct speech from Abimelech toward Abraham.

The question itself begins with mah ("what?", H4100) followed by henah ("they", H2007), a feminine plural pronoun that anticipates the feminine plural noun kevasot ("ewe-lambs", H3535) that follows. This creates a structure literally rendering as "what are they, these seven ewe-lambs" — the pronoun henah placed before the noun phrase gives the question an emphatic, almost exclamatory quality in Hebrew that is not preserved when translations simply render it as "what do these lambs mean."

The relative clause asher hitzavta levadanah ("which you have set apart", H0834A + H5324 + H0905H/H9039) modifies "these ewe-lambs," specifying that Abraham himself performed the causative action of positioning them separately. The hiphil stem of hitzavta underscores Abraham's active role in causing this separation, and the phrase levadanah reinforces that the lambs constitute their own isolated set, distinct from the rest of the flock.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the Hebrew henah ("they") + kevasot ("ewe-lambs") construction as αἱ ἑπτὰ ἀμνάδες τῶν προβάτων τούτων ("these seven ewe-lambs of the sheep"), adding τῶν προβάτων ("of the sheep") as a genitive clarification not present in the Hebrew wording. The Vulgate uses Quid sibi volunt ("what do they want for themselves"), an idiomatic expansion that interprets the bare interrogative mah ("what?") as asking about intention or purpose, rather than a more literal "what are they."