Genesis 27:11

Summary

Jacob responds to his mother Rebekah, pointing out a physical contrast between himself and his brother Esau: Esau is described as a hairy man, while Jacob calls himself a smooth man. The verse sets up the practical problem behind the deception plan Rebekah has proposed.

Key words

• va-i.Yo.mer ("and he said", H0559) — qal verb with narrative vav, the standard form that advances the story's action.
• hen ("here!", H2005) — an interjection drawing attention to what follows, often translated "behold" or "look."
• 'a.Ch-i ("brother of me", H0251G) — construct noun with 1st person suffix, literally "brother of me," i.e., "my brother."
• sa.'Ir ("hairy", H8163A) — masculine singular adjective describing Esau's physical trait.
• cha.Lak ("smooth", H2509) — masculine singular adjective describing Jacob's physical trait, forming a direct contrast with sa.'Ir.

What the text says

The verse is built as a short direct speech introduced by va-i.Yo.mer... 'el- ("and he said... to"), a common narrative formula naming both speaker (Ya'aKo, "Jacob") and addressee (Rivkah 'iMo, "Rebekah his mother"). The construct phrase 'iM-o ("mother of him/his mother") uses the suffix -o ("his") attached to the construct noun 'em ("mother"), a typical way Biblical Hebrew expresses possession without a separate possessive word.

The core of Jacob's statement is a balanced two-part construction: 'ish sa.'Ir ("a man, hairy") describing Esau, and 'ish cha.Lak ("a man, smooth") describing "I" ('a.no.Khi). Both halves use the same noun 'ish ("man") followed by an adjective, joined by the conjunction ve- ("and"). This parallel structure — noun + adjective repeated with contrasting adjectives — creates a symmetrical opposition between the two brothers purely through word order and repetition, without needing a verb "to be," which Hebrew omits in such descriptive clauses. The interjection hen ("here!") at the start of the description functions to draw the mother's attention to the stated fact before the contrast is presented.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders hen ("here!") as Ἔστιν ("is"), turning the attention-drawing interjection into a simple stating verb, and drops any equivalent for "behold" as a separate particle. The Vulgate goes further, translating the whole clause as Nosti quod ("You know that"), which frames Jacob's words as a reminder of something Rebekah already knows, an addition not present in the Hebrew wording of the sentence. The Hebrew itself contains no verb "to know" or "behold-as-question" — it presents the contrast plainly through the interjection hen and the parallel noun-adjective phrases.