Genesis 24:3

Summary

Abraham asks his servant to swear an oath by Yehovah, described as God of heaven and earth, that he will not take a wife for Abraham's son from among the Canaanite women. The verse specifies the divine name invoked and the content of the prohibition regarding marriage.

Key words

• 'ash.Bi.'a ("I may make swear", H7650) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with vav: the causative form indicates Abraham is causing the servant to swear, not swearing himself; the imperfect with vav-conjunction ties it to a preceding action as its purpose or continuation.
• 'e.lo.Hei ("[the] God of", H0430G) — masculine plural noun in construct state, appearing twice (with "heavens" and with "earth"), linking the divine name Yehovah to two separate domains via two construct phrases joined by ve ("and", H9002).
• ti.Kach ("you will take", H3947G) — qal imperfect, second person masculine: expresses a future/ongoing prohibited action, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), forming the content of the oath.
• yo.Shev ("[am] dwelling", H3427) — qal participle, masculine singular: describes an ongoing state ("the one dwelling") rather than a completed or punctual action, characterizing the speaker's (Abraham's) present location among the Canaanites.
• kir.B + o ("midst" + "its/his", H7130G + H9023) — construct noun with pronominal suffix: "in the midst of it/him," referring back to the Canaanite population, expressing spatial proximity.

What the text says

The verse opens with a hiphil causative verb, 'ash.Bi.'a ("I may make swear", H7650), attached to a second-person pronominal suffix -kha ("you", H9031). This grammatical construction distinguishes the act of Abraham causing the oath from the servant performing it — the servant is the one who will swear, but Abraham initiates the swearing. The oath is sworn ba-Yehovah ("by Yehovah", H9003 + H3068G), followed by two parallel construct phrases: 'e.lo.Hei ha-shamayim ("God of the heavens", H0430G + H8064) and, joined by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002), 'e.lo.Hei ha-'aretz ("God of the earth", H0430G + H0776G). Both phrases share the same construct noun form, repeated rather than abbreviated, giving the divine title a doubled structure covering two cosmic domains.

The content of the oath is introduced by the relative particle 'a.Sher ("that", H0834A) and expressed through a negated qal imperfect, lo' ti.Kach ("you will not take", H3808 + H3947G), describing a prohibited future action rather than a single completed event. The object of the prohibition, 'i.Shah ("a wife", H0802H), is specified as being mi-be.noT ha-ke.na.'a.Ni ("from the daughters of the Canaanite[s]", H9006 + H1323G + H3669A), using a construct chain with the definite article on the gentilic noun. A second relative clause, introduced again by 'a.Sher ("whom/that", H0834A), adds that Abraham himself, marked by the independent pronoun 'a.no.Khi ("I", H0595) plus the participle yo.Shev ("dwelling", H3427), currently resides be-kir.Bo ("in its midst", H7130G + H9023) — the participle conveying a durative, present state of dwelling rather than a discrete action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the divine name as kyrion ("Lord") where the Hebrew text has the proper name Yehovah (H3068G). The LXX also adds Isaak ("Isaac") as the name of the son, information not present in the Hebrew verse, which uses only li-vni ("for my son", H9005 + H1121A + H9020) without naming him. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew structure more closely with Dominum Deum caeli et terrae, corresponding to the two construct phrases for heaven and earth, and likewise does not name the son, using filio meo ("my son").