Genesis 22:7

Summary

Isaac addresses Abraham as they walk, calling him "father"; Abraham responds "here I am, my son"; Isaac then observes that the fire and wood are present but asks where the animal for the burnt offering is.

Key words

• va-yomer ("and he said", H0559) — repeated three times (items 2, 9, 13, 19: four occurrences total across the verse) as qal narrative verb, marking each turn in the exchange without additional dialogue-introducing verbs.
• avi ("my father", H0001G + H9020) — construct noun "father" with 1st-person suffix "my," used as direct address (vocative), not as a full clause.
• hinneni ("here am I", H2009 + H9040) — the interjection hinneh ("here/behold") fused with the 1st-person suffix "I," functioning as a self-presenting response to being called.
• beni ("my son", H1121A + H9020) — construct noun "son" with 1st-person suffix "my," used as vocative address from Abraham to Isaac.
• ayyeh ("where?", H0346) — interrogative particle introducing Isaac's question about the missing animal.

What the text says

The verse is built entirely from four instances of the verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), each introducing a short direct speech without any narrative description of tone, gesture, or delay between the lines. The first va-yomer names the subject, Yitzchak ("Isaac", H3327), who speaks "to" ('el, H0413) Avraham ("Abraham", H0085) described as "his father" (avi + suffix, H0001G/H9023). The next three instances of va-yomer have no explicit subject stated in the Hebrew text as given, so the identity of each speaker is inferred from the content and pattern (father called, response "here I am," followed by the son's continued statement), not from any subject noun repeated in the text.

The address terms avi ("my father") and beni ("my son") are both construct-form nouns with pronominal suffixes, meaning grammatically "father of me" and "son of me" — this construct-plus-suffix pattern is how Biblical Hebrew expresses possessive vocatives. The word hinneni ("here am I", H2009+H9040) combines the presentative particle hinneh with a first-person suffix, producing a single-word response of presence/readiness, distinct from a full sentence. In the final line, hinneh appears again (item 20) without a suffix, functioning as a plain presentative ("Behold" / "Here [is]") pointing to ha-esh ("the fire", H0784) and ha-'etzim ("the wood", H6086G), before the interrogative ayyeh ("where?", H0346) introduces the question about ha-seh ("the sheep/lamb", H7716) intended le-'olah ("for a burnt offering", H5930A).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders seh (H7716, "sheep") as probaton ("sheep"), matching the Hebrew's general livestock term, while the Vulgate uses victima ("victim/offering animal"), a more general sacrificial term rather than a specific animal word. The BSB and RV1909 translate seh as "lamb" and "cordero" ("lamb") respectively, which narrows the Hebrew's broader "sheep/flock animal" sense. The LXX also renders Abraham's response as "Τί ἐστιν, τέκνον;" ("What is it, child?") rather than a direct equivalent of hinneni beni ("here am I, my son"), reflecting a different phrasing of the reply than the Hebrew's presentative-plus-vocative construction.