Genesis 22:6

Summary

The verse narrates a sequence of four actions: Abraham takes the wood for the burnt offering and places it on Isaac, then takes the fire and the knife in his own hand, and the two of them walk on together. The Hebrew presents these as a chain of consecutive events using the narrative verb form.

Key words

• va-yiqqach ("and he took", H3947G) — qal narrative form, first of four consecutive actions marked by the narrative vav (H9001), which chains events as "and then... and then...".
• 'atzei ("wood of", H6086G) — masculine plural construct, linking "wood" directly to ha-'olah ("the burnt offering", H5930A) as "the wood of the burnt offering," not merely "wood and a burnt offering."
• beno ("his son", from ben H1121A + suffix H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, identifying Isaac's relation to Abraham within the same clause that places the wood "on" ('al, H5921A) him.
• be-yado ("in his hand", from yad H3027G + suffix H9023) — construct noun with suffix, specifying that Abraham personally carries the fire and knife, distinct from the wood placed on Isaac.
• shenei-hem ("the two of them", H8147 + suffix H9028) — dual cardinal number in construct with a pronominal suffix, grammatically binding "two" to "them" as a single unit performing the final verb yeleku ("they went", H1980G).

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built as a chain of four qal narrative verbs (va-yiqqach, va-yasem, va-yiqqach, va-yeleku), each introduced by the narrative vav (H9001), which in Biblical Hebrew narrative typically signals sequential action: "and he took... and he placed... and he took... and they went." This chaining structure keeps the four actions tightly linked as one continuous scene without subordinating any of them grammatically to another.

The construct phrase 'atzei ha-'olah ("wood of the burnt offering") ties the wood specifically to its sacrificial purpose rather than presenting it as generic timber. Similarly, be-yado ("in his hand") uses the construct + suffix form to stress that Abraham himself, and only he, holds the fire and the knife — items associated with danger — while the wood is set "upon" ('al, H5921A) Isaac, the object being carried. The final clause uses shenei-hem ("the two of them"), a dual numeral bound to a suffix, which grammatically emphasizes the pairing of the two figures as they move forward together, marked further by the adverb yachdav ("together", H3162B).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders 'atzei ha-'olah ("wood of the burnt offering") as τὰ ξύλα τῆς ὁλοκαρπώσεως ("the wood of the whole burnt offering"), using a term (ὁλοκάρπωσις) that specifies a fully burnt offering. The Vulgate's ligna holocausti mirrors the Hebrew construct closely. The Vulgate adds ipse vero ("he himself"), making explicit in Latin what the Hebrew construct be-yado ("in his hand") already implies about Abraham personally carrying the fire and knife.