Genesis 27:28

Summary

Genesis 27:28 records a blessing formula in which 'Elohim ("God", H0430G) is asked to give the addressee dew, agricultural richness, grain, and new wine. The verse is structured as a wish expressed through a verb form that conveys desire or invocation rather than a flat statement of fact.

Key words

• yi.ten ("may he give", H5414G) — qal imperfect of the root meaning "to give," here functioning with a jussive/optative nuance ("let him give" / "may he give"), making the clause a wish rather than a description of a completed action.
• Tal ("dew of", H2919) — masculine singular noun in construct state, meaning it is grammatically bound to the following noun ha.Sha.ma.yim ("the heavens", H8064), producing "dew of the heavens."
• sh.ma.Nei ("fatness/richnesses of", H4924A) — adjective used substantively, masculine plural construct, bound to ha.'A.retz ("the earth", H0776H), yielding "richnesses of the earth."
• Ro ("abundance of", H7230) — masculine singular noun in construct, governing da.Gan ("grain", H1715), forming "abundance of grain."
• 'E.lo.Him ("God", H0430G) — grammatically plural noun functioning here as the subject of a singular verb (yi.ten), a common pattern for this term when referring to a single deity.

What the text says

The verse opens with the conjunction ve ("and", H9002) attached to the verb yi.ten ("may he give", H5414G), an imperfect form of the qal stem. In Biblical Hebrew, an imperfect verb introduced this way at the start of a clause commonly carries a volitive force — expressing a wish, blessing, or request — rather than describing a future event as certain fact. The subject ha.'Elohim ("the God", H0430G) follows the verb, with the indirect object le.kha ("to you", H9005+H9031) attached to the verb itself, indicating the recipient of the wished-for gift.

The items being wished for are organized through a chain of construct relationships. Tal ("dew of", H2919) is bound to ha.shamayim ("the heavens", H8064); sh.ma.nei ("fatnesses of", H4924A) is bound to ha.'aretz ("the earth", H0776H); and rov ("abundance of", H7230) is bound to dagan ("grain", H1715). Each construct chain compresses a full descriptive phrase into two linked nouns, a feature that translations render with "of" phrases in English or Spanish. The final item, tirosh ("new wine", H8492), is added simply by conjunction, without its own construct governor, standing in loose apposition to the preceding "abundance."

Differences between versions

The LXX adds ἄνωθεν ("from above"), an element not present in the Hebrew construct phrase tal ha-shamayim ("dew of the heavens", H2919+H8064). The Vulgate renders the construct chains as "abundantiam frumenti et vini" ("abundance of grain and wine"), applying the single Hebrew word rov ("abundance", H7230) to both dagan ("grain", H1715) and tirosh ("new wine", H8492), whereas the Hebrew text attaches rov only to dagan, with tirosh joined afterward by the conjunction ve ("and", H9002).