Genesis 22:16

Summary

This verse reports the divine speech introducing an oath: Yehovah swears "by himself" (since no greater entity exists to swear by), and grounds that oath in Abraham's completed action of not withholding his son. The Hebrew marks this as direct, formal speech attributed explicitly to Yehovah.

Key words

• nish.Ba'.ti ("I swear", H7650) — niphal perfect, first person: a reflexive/passive-form verb indicating a completed, binding act of self-oath.
• ne.'um- ("utterance of", H5002) — masculine singular construct noun, here functioning as a formulaic tag identifying the speaker as Yehovah, structurally interrupting the main clause.
• Ki ("that", H3588A) and Ya.'an ("because", H3282) — two subordinating/conjunctive particles stacked together, both introducing the causal clause that follows.
• 'a.Sha-a...'a.Si.ta ("you have done", H6213A) — qal perfect, second person masculine: a completed action attributed to Abraham.
• cha.Sakh.ta ("you have withheld", H2820) — qal perfect, second person masculine, negated by Lo' ("not", H3808): a completed action framed negatively, describing what Abraham did not do.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative verb va-i.Yo.mer ("and he said", H0559), the standard formula introducing direct speech. The content of the speech begins with bi ("by myself", H9003+H9030) plus nish.Ba'.ti ("I swear", H7650), a niphal perfect construction; the niphal stem here carries a reflexive nuance, matching the idea of swearing "by/in oneself." The phrase ne.'um-Yehovah ("utterance of Yehovah", H5002+H3068G) is inserted as a construct-noun formula, a common way in the Hebrew text to explicitly label the speaker mid-sentence rather than relying only on narrative context.

The causal clause is introduced with two particles in sequence, Ki ("that", H3588A) and Ya.'an ("because", H3282), followed by the relative 'a.Sher ("that/who", H0834A). This stacking of subordinating particles ties the oath tightly to the reason given: the completed action expressed by 'a.Si.ta ("you have done", H6213A) regarding ha.da.Var ha.Zeh ("this thing", H1697I+H2088), and the negated completed action ve.Lo' cha.Sakh.ta ("and you have not withheld", H3808+H2820). The object is doubled with two 'et- markers (H0853), first naming bin.Kha ("your son", H1121A+H9021) and then reinforcing it with ye.chi.De.Kha ("your only [son]", H3173+H9021), an adjective in construct form modifying the preceding noun.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ne.'um-Yehovah ("utterance of Yehovah") as λέγει κύριος ("the Lord says"), a verbal clause rather than the Hebrew's construct-noun formula. The LXX also adds δι' ἐμέ ("for my sake"/"because of me") at the end, a phrase with no corresponding Hebrew word in the given text. The Vulgate's propter me ("for my sake") matches this LXX addition rather than the Hebrew, which ends with ye.chi.De.Kha ("your only son") without such a phrase. The Vulgate translates ye.chi.De.Kha as unigenito ("only-begotten"), while the LXX uses ἀγαπητοῦ ("beloved") for the same word.