Genesis 27:1

Summary

The verse opens a new narrative unit describing Isaac's old age and failing eyesight, then reports that he summoned his older son Esau, addressed him as "my son," and received the reply "here I am." The verse establishes the physical circumstances (blindness, old age) that motivate the scene which follows.

Key words

• va-yehi ("and it was", H1961/H9001) — narrative vav + qal verb, the standard formula opening a new episode in Hebrew narrative, roughly "and it came to pass."
• zaqen ("he was old", H2204) — qal perfect, marking a completed state; combined with ki ("for/when", H3588A) it forms the temporal clause "when Isaac had become old."
• tikhHeyna ("they were dim", H3543A) — qal narrative feminine plural verb, agreeing with the dual noun 'einayv ("his eyes", H5869A construct + H9023 "his"), describing the eyes as the grammatical subject of dimming.
• me-re'ot ("from seeing", H9006 + H7200G) — preposition + infinitive, literally "from seeing," expressing result/inability ("too dim to see").
• hinneni ("here am I", H2009 + H9040) — interjection with 1st person suffix, Esau's single-word response confirming presence and readiness to listen.

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of narrative-vav clauses (va-yehi, va-tikhHeyna, va-yiqra', va-yomer, va-yomer), the typical backbone of Biblical Hebrew storytelling, where each va- form pushes the action forward in sequence. The opening va-yehi ki construction (H1961 + H3588A) sets a temporal frame — "and it happened that/when" — before the main clause about Isaac's failing sight is introduced.

The description of blindness uses a feminine plural verb tikhHeyna ("they were dim") agreeing with the dual construct noun 'einayv ("his eyes"), a natural agreement in Hebrew since eyes are grammatically feminine plural. The phrase me-re'ot ("from seeing") uses an infinitive with the preposition min (H9006) to express the eyes' inability to perform the act of seeing, a common Hebrew way to indicate result or incapacity without a separate word for "unable."

Esau is identified with the construct phrase ben-o ha-gadol ("his son, the old/great one", H1121A + H9023 + H1419K), where the adjective gadol ("old/great") functions as "elder" in context of comparing sons. The dialogue itself is minimal: Isaac's address beni ("my son", H1121A + H9020) is a vocative construct with pronominal suffix, and Esau's answer hinneni ("here am I", H2009 + H9040) combines the presentative particle with a first-person suffix, a fixed idiom of attentive response rather than a full sentence.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders ben-o ha-gadol ("his son, the old one") as "τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν πρεσβύτερον" ("his elder son"), making explicit the comparative sense that the Hebrew adjective gadol ("old/great", H1419K) leaves implicit through context. The Vulgate similarly uses "majorem" ("elder"). The Hebrew me-re'ot ("from seeing") is rendered in the LXX as an infinitive of purpose/result "τοῦ ὁρᾷν" governed by "ἠμβλύνθησαν" ("were dimmed"), and the Vulgate splits this into two clauses, "caligaverunt oculi ejus, et videre non poterat" ("his eyes grew dim, and he could not see"), expanding the single Hebrew infinitival construction into a coordinated clause.