Genesis 27:2

Summary

Isaac addresses his son (implied by context, not named in this verse) stating that he has become old and does not know the day of his death. The verse consists of a short introductory narrative clause followed by three brief statements in the first person.

Key words

• hinneh ("here!", H2009) — an attention-drawing interjection, often translated "behold" or "look," used here to open the direct speech and draw the hearer's focus to what follows.
• na' ("please", H4994) — a particle of entreaty or emphasis attached to hinneh, softening the statement or adding urgency; the combination hinneh-na is common at the start of speeches in Genesis.
• zaqanti ("I am old", H2204) — qal perfect, first person: the perfect aspect marks this as a completed state rather than an ongoing process, i.e., "I have become old" / "I am [now] old."
• yadati ("I know", H3045) — qal perfect, first person, negated by lo' ("not", H3808), forming "I do not know."
• yom moti ("day of my death", H3117G + H4194 + H9020) — a construct chain: yom ("day of," construct) governs mot ("death," construct), which in turn carries the first-person suffix -i ("my"), producing a single compact phrase "the day of my death."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula va-yomer ("and he said"), the standard way Biblical Hebrew introduces direct speech within a story sequence. The speech itself begins with the interjection hinneh reinforced by na', a combination that functions almost like a verbal gesture — calling attention to the speaker's condition before stating it. The core content is carried by two perfect-tense verbs, zaqanti ("I am old") and yadati ("I know"), both first person and both expressing completed or settled states rather than actions in progress. The negation lo' attaches directly to yadati, producing "I do not know."

The final phrase, yom moti ("day of my death"), is a double construct chain: yom ("day of") is bound to mot ("death"), and mot itself carries the possessive suffix -i ("my"). This grammatical stacking allows Hebrew to compress "the day on which I will die" into three morphemes without a separate possessive word or relative clause.

Differences between versions

The Septuagint renders the final phrase with a Greek noun for "end" (τελευτή, appearing in the provided text as τελεmῆς, likely a transliteration variant), where the Hebrew specifically has mot ("death", H4194). The Vulgate's diem mortis meæ ("the day of my death") corresponds closely to the Hebrew construct chain. The interjection hinneh-na is rendered variably across translations — BSB gives simply "Look," while RV1909 gives "He aquí ya," reflecting different strategies for capturing the combined attention-particle and entreaty sense of hinneh and na'.