Genesis 21:30

Summary

Abraham instructs that the seven ewe-lambs be accepted from his hand as a witness (or proof) that he dug the well in question. The verse gives both the content of his statement and its underlying purpose and reason.

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — narrative qal verb marking the continuation of dialogue; the subject (Abraham, per the previous verse) is carried by the verb form itself.
• ki ("that", H3588A) — appears twice (positions 3 and 18) as a subordinating particle; the first instance introduces the content of the speech, the second introduces the reason clause ("for/because").
• tiqqach ("you will take", H3947G) — qal imperfect, expressing an action pointing to the future/ongoing, addressed to a second-person masculine singular ("you").
• tihyeh ("it may become", H1961) — qal jussive form, expressing purpose or desired outcome ("let it become"), governed by ba'avur ("in order that", H5668).
• chafarti ("I dug", H2658) — qal perfect, first person, denoting a completed action prior to the moment of speaking.

What the text says

The verse is built around two clauses each introduced by ki (H3588A), a single Hebrew particle that here does double duty: the first occurrence functions to introduce the substance of what is said (comparable to "that"), while the second introduces a causal clause ("for/because"). This repetition of the same particle for different logical functions is a feature visible only in the Hebrew; translations render the first as "that" and the second as "for" or "because," obscuring that both stem from the identical word ki.

The purpose clause uses ba'avur ("in order that", H5668) followed by the jussive tihyeh ("it may become", H1961), a construction that expresses intended result rather than a flat statement of fact — the ewe-lambs are to become a witness, not simply be one. The object le'edah ("a witness", H5713A) carries a preposition le marking the role into which the lambs are entering. The final clause anchors the reason: chafarti ("I dug", H2658), a first-person qal perfect, states a completed action distinguishing it from the surrounding imperfect and jussive forms describing present/future arrangements.

Differences between versions

The LXX names "Ἀβραάμ" explicitly as the subject of "he said," where the Hebrew leaves the subject unstated in the verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), relying on narrative context from the preceding verse. The Vulgate similarly supplies "ille" ("he") without naming Abraham directly, closer to the Hebrew's implicit subject. The LXX renders le'edah ("a witness", H5713A) as "εἰς μαρτύριον" ("into a testimony"), and the Vulgate as "in testimonium," both matching the sense of the Hebrew preposition-plus-noun construction indicating a resulting role.