Genesis 27:3

Summary

Isaac instructs his son (Esau) to take his hunting equipment — quiver and bow — go out to the field, and hunt game for him. The verse consists of a chain of four imperatives structuring a single command sequence.

Key words

• sa' ("take up", H5375G) — qal imperative, opens the command sequence, softened by the following particle na' ("please", H4994), giving the request a polite tone.
• keley ("weapons/equipment", H3627) — masculine plural construct, functioning as a general term ("the items of...") that introduces the more specific nouns that follow.
• telye ("quiver", H8522) — masculine singular construct, first specific item depending on the pronominal suffix -kha ("your").
• qashte ("bow", H7198) — feminine singular construct, second specific item, grammatically distinct in gender from keley though part of the same construct chain.
• tzuda ("hunt", H6679A) — qal imperative with paragogic he (H9012), a suffixed form that intensifies or emphasizes the command, distinguishing it from a plain imperative form.

What the text says

The verse is built on four consecutive qal imperatives — sa' ("take"), tze' ("go out", H3318G), and tzuda ("hunt") — each addressed to a second-person masculine singular subject, producing a rapid sequence of directives. The object of the first imperative is expressed through a construct chain: keley-kha ("your equipment") stands in apposition to telye-kha ("your quiver") and ve-qashte-kha ("and your bow"), so the general term "equipment" is immediately specified by the two concrete items. Notably, keley is masculine plural while qashte is feminine singular, showing that Hebrew construct chains do not require gender agreement between the head noun and its specifiers.

The final imperative, tzuda, carries a paragogic he ending, a suffix that Biblical Hebrew grammar associates with heightened emphasis on the command. This form is followed by li ("for me", H9030+H9005) and tzayid ("wild game", H6718A), stating the purpose and object of the hunt: game brought back specifically for the speaker.

Differences between versions

The LXX condenses the construct chain into an appositional structure: τὸ σκεῦος ("the vessel/equipment") followed by τήν τε φαρέτραν καὶ τὸ τόξον ("the quiver and the bow"), mirroring the Hebrew's general-then-specific pattern but using a coordinating conjunction (τε...καὶ) rather than a construct relationship. The Vulgate lists the three nouns arma, pharetram, arcum without markedly changing the imperative structure, but renders the final hunting command as a subordinate temporal clause ("cumque venatu aliquid apprehenderis" — "and when you have caught something by hunting"), rather than preserving the Hebrew's direct imperative tzuda with its emphatic paragogic he.