Genesis 25:30

Summary

Esau asks Jacob to let him eat from "that red, red [stuff]," giving as reason that he is exhausted. The narrator then notes that this incident is why Esau's name was called Edom.

Key words

• hal'iteni ("let swallow", H3938) — hiphil (causative) imperative with 1st person suffix ni ("me", H9030): a causative command, "cause me to swallow/gulp," stronger than a simple request to eat.
• ha-'adom ha-'adom ("the red, the red", H0122B, doubled) — the adjective "red" appears twice, each with the definite article ha (H9009); the repetition intensifies the description of the stew's color/substance rather than naming it directly as a dish.
• ki ("for/that", H3588A) — subordinating particle introducing the reason clause, linking the request to Esau's stated condition.
• 'ayef 'anokhi ("[am] exhausted I", H5889 + H0595) — adjective followed by independent personal pronoun; the pronoun placed after the adjective gives emphasis to "I" as the one exhausted.
• qara' shemo ("someone called his name", H7121H + H8034 construct + H9023 suffix) — qal perfect 3rd masculine singular with no explicit subject expressed; the construct noun shem ("name of") plus suffix "his" forms "his name," and the unspecified "he/someone" subject gives the clause a passive-like sense, "his name was called."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yomer ("and he said", H0559/H9001), continuing the story sequence, followed by the subject 'Esav and the addressee marked by 'el ("to", H0413) plus Ya'akov. Esau's speech itself begins with the causative imperative hal'iteni, attached directly to the 1st-person object suffix, making the verb-plus-pronoun a single tight unit: "cause-me-to-swallow." The polite particle na' ("please", H4994) softens the imperative. The object of the request is introduced by min ("some of", H4480A) followed by the doubled, articled adjective ha-'adom ha-'adom, itself further specified by the demonstrative ha-zeh ("this", H2088): literally "some of the red, the red, this one." No noun for "stew" or "food" appears in the Hebrew of this word list; the description relies entirely on the repeated color adjective and demonstrative to point at the item.

The causal clause ki 'ayef 'anokhi places the adjective 'ayef ("exhausted") before the independent pronoun 'anokhi ("I"), a construction that gives weight to the pronoun as the final, emphasized element of the clause. The closing sentence, introduced by 'al-ken ("there-fore", H5921A + H3651C), uses the qal perfect qara' with no stated grammatical subject, followed by the construct chain shemo ("name of + his") and the proper name 'Edom, yielding "for this reason someone called his name Edom" — the impersonal subject giving the sentence a passive nuance in translation ("his name was called Edom").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew's doubled adjective ha-'adom ha-'adom ha-zeh ("the red, the red, this") is rendered in the LXX as a single noun phrase, τοῦ ἑψέματος τοῦ πυρροῦ τούτου ("this red stew/pottage"), supplying the noun "stew" (ἕψεμα) that the Hebrew word list does not show explicitly. The Vulgate similarly supplies "coctione hac rufa" ("this red cooked-dish"). Where the Hebrew causative hal'iteni ("let swallow me") suggests a stronger, gulping sense, the LXX uses γεῦσόν με ("give me a taste"), and the Vulgate uses da mihi ("give me"), both softer verbs of giving/tasting rather than causing to swallow.