Genesis 27:29

יַֽעַבְדוּךָ עַמִּים וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲווּ לְךָ לְאֻמִּים הֱוֵה גְבִיר לְאַחֶיךָ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲוּוּ לְךָ בְּנֵי אִמֶּךָ אֹרְרֶיךָ אָרוּר וּֽמְבָרֲכֶיךָ בָּרֽוּךְ׃

✦ Hebrew interlinear

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✦ The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

יַֽעַבְד֣וּךָ עַמִּ֗ים וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֤וּ לְךָ֙ לְאֻמִּ֔ים הֱוֵ֤ה גְבִיר֙ לְאַחֶ֔יךָ וְיִשְׁתַּחֲוּ֥וּ לְךָ֖ בְּנֵ֣י אִמֶּ֑ךָ אֹרְרֶ֣יךָ אָר֔וּר וּֽמְבָרֲכֶ֖יךָ בָּרֽוּךְ׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ δουλευσάτωσάν σοι ἔθνη, καὶ προσκυνήσουσιν σοι ἄρχοντες· καὶ γίνου κύριος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, καὶ προσκυνήσουσίν σε οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρός σου. ὁ καταρώμενός σε ἐπικατάρατος, ὁ δὲ εὐλογῶν σε εὐλουημένος.

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Et serviant tibi populi, et adorent te tribus: esto dominus fratrum tuorum, et incurventur ante te filii matris tuæ: qui maledixerit tibi, sit ille maledictus, et qui benedixerit tibi, benedictionibus repleatur.

Spanish

Que los pueblos te sirvan, y que las naciones se inclinen ante ti. Sé el señor de tus hermanos, y que los hijos de tu madre se inclinen ante ti. ¡Maldito sea el que te maldiga, y bendito sea el que te bendiga!”

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Sírvante pueblos, y naciones se inclinen á ti: sé señor de tus hermanos, e inclínense á ti los hijos de tu madre: malditos los que te maldijeren, y benditos los que te bendijeren.

English

May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. May you be the master of your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.” Esau’s Lost Hope

✦ What the text says

Summary

This verse records a blessing formula pronounced over Jacob, expressing wishes for dominance over peoples and family members, and closing with a symmetric formula on cursing and blessing. The Hebrew uses verb forms that express wish or command rather than simple description of fact.

Key words

ya.'av.Duكha ("may they serve you", H5647G) — qal imperfect, third person plural; the imperfect here functions as a jussive/optative, expressing a wish rather than a certain future event.
he.Veh ("be", H1933B) — qal imperative, second person masculine singular; a direct command form addressed to the blessing's recipient, distinct from the surrounding wish-forms.
ge.Vir ("lord", H1376) — masculine singular noun, functioning as the predicate complement of the imperative he.Veh.
'o.re.Rei.kha ("those who curse you", H0779) — qal active participle, masculine plural construct with pronominal suffix; describes an ongoing class of agents ("cursers of you") rather than a single event.
'a.Rur ("cursed", H0779) — qal passive participle, masculine singular; same root as 'o.re.Rei.kha but passive voice, creating a wordplay between "the ones who curse" and "cursed."

What the text says

The verse is built from paired clauses using verbs of service and bowing (ya.'av.Duكha and yish.ta.chu.le.kha), each governed by imperfect verb forms that carry jussive force — expressing what is wished to happen rather than asserting a fact already occurring. The repetition of ve.yish.ta.cha.Vu le.kha ("and let them bow down to you") in lines 5 and 15 creates a structural parallel: first "peoples" ('a.Mim, H5971A) and "peoples" (le.'u.Mim, H3816) bow down, then "the sons of your mother" (be.Nei 'i.Me.kha) bow down, narrowing the scope from nations to family.

The imperative he.Veh ("be", H1933B) stands out grammatically as the only true command in the passage, instructing the addressee to occupy the position of ge.Vir ("lord", H1376) over "your brothers" ('a.Chei.kha, construct form "brothers of you").

The closing lines pair active and passive participles from the same roots: 'o.re.Rei.kha ("those who curse you") is answered by 'a.Rur ("cursed"), and me.va.ra.Khei.kha ("those who bless you", piel participle, intensive form) is answered by ba.Rukh ("blessed"). This root-repetition (cursing/cursed, blessing/blessed) creates a chiastic or mirrored structure not fully replicable in translation, where the participle describing the agent and the passive participle describing the resulting state share identical consonantal roots.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders le.'u.Mim ("peoples", H3816) as ἄρχοντες ("rulers"), differing from the Hebrew's second reference to "peoples," and also renders 'a.Chei.kha ("your brothers", singular construct plural in Hebrew grammar) as τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου ("your brother," singular). The LXX further reads be.Nei 'i.Me.kha ("sons of your mother") as οἱ υἱοὶ τοῦ πατρός σου ("the sons of your father"), diverging from the Hebrew's reference to "mother." The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's plural "brothers" (fratrum tuorum) and "mother" (matris tuæ), aligning more closely with the Hebrew text at these points than the LXX does.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.