Genesis 24:34

Summary

The verse reports a short statement by an unnamed speaker (identified in the wider narrative as Abraham's servant) who identifies himself simply as belonging to Abraham. The sentence is a brief self-introduction consisting of a noun in construct with a name, followed by the independent pronoun.

Key words

va-yomar ("and he said", H0559) — the verb is prefixed with the narrative vav, the standard form that advances the story's action; the subject "he" is embedded in the verb's conjugation, so no separate pronoun is needed for the subject of speaking.

'eved ("servant of", H5650) — a masculine singular noun in the construct state. The construct form means it cannot stand alone grammatically; it requires a following noun to complete its meaning ("servant of X"), here supplied by 'avraham.

'avraham ("Abraham", H0085) — the proper name functioning as the absolute noun that completes the construct chain begun by 'eved, producing the phrase "servant of Abraham."

'anokhi ("I", H0595) — the independent (free-standing) first-person pronoun. Its presence is grammatically optional in Hebrew, since the identity of the speaker is not marked by a verb here (there is no verb "to be" in the clause); the pronoun's placement at the end gives it emphatic, identifying weight.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause 'eved 'avraham 'anokhi has no verb "to be" — it is a nominal (verbless) sentence, a common construction in Biblical Hebrew for statements of identity or status. The construct phrase 'eved 'avraham ("servant of Abraham") functions as the predicate, and 'anokhi ("I") is the subject, placed after the predicate. This word order — predicate before subject — is typical in Hebrew nominal clauses and gives prominence to the description "servant of Abraham" before confirming who bears that description.

The construct chain 'eved 'avraham binds the two nouns tightly: 'eved ("servant", H5650) cannot carry its own independent meaning in this form and depends entirely on 'avraham ("Abraham", H0085) to specify whose servant is meant. The use of the fuller independent pronoun 'anokhi rather than a shorter alternative pronoun form is a stylistic feature of the sentence, though the data provided does not indicate a specific semantic distinction between pronoun forms here.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the clause as παῖς Ἀβραάμ ἐγώ εἰμι ("servant of Abraham I am"), supplying the verb εἰμι ("I am") that the Hebrew clause lacks, since Greek nominal sentences typically require an explicit copula. The Vulgate similarly adds "sum" ("I am"): "Servus Abraham sum." Both versions thus make explicit a verb "to be" that is absent from the Hebrew construction, where the identity statement is conveyed purely through juxtaposition of the construct phrase and the pronoun.