Genesis 27:34

Summary

The verse narrates Esau's reaction upon hearing his father's words: he cries out with a loud and bitter cry, then pleads with his father to bless him too. The Hebrew structure emphasizes the intensity of Esau's emotional response before recording his direct speech.

Key words

• sh.Mo.a' ("heard", H8085) — qal infinitive construct, used with the preposition ki ("when") to form a temporal clause: "when Esau heard," setting up the cause for the following action.
• tze.'a.Kah ("a cry", H6818) — feminine singular noun functioning as a cognate object of the verb yitz.'Ak ("he cried", H6817), literally "he cried a cry," an intensifying construction.
• ge.do.Lah ("great", H1419A) and ma.Rah ("bitter", H4751) — feminine singular adjectives modifying tze.'a.Kah, both agreeing in gender and number with the noun they describe.
• 'ad-me.'Od ("up to muchness", H5704 + H3966) — a preposition plus noun forming an idiomatic intensifier, literally "unto muchness," strengthening "bitter" to an extreme degree.
• ba.ra.Khe.ni ("bless me", H1288) — piel imperative with 1st-person singular suffix, an intensive command form directly addressed to the father, followed by gam-'A.ni ("also me", H1571 + H0589) emphasizing Esau's inclusion.

What the text says

The verse opens with a temporal clause built from ki ("when") plus the infinitive sh.Mo.a' ("heard"), a common Hebrew construction for marking simultaneity or immediate sequence: "when Esau heard the words of his father." The subject 'e.Sav ("Esau") follows the infinitive, and the object is marked by 'et- before div.Rei 'a.Vi ("the words of his father"), a construct chain literally meaning "words-of father-of-him."

The narrative then shifts to the vav-consecutive form va-yitz.'Ak ("and he cried"), paired with its cognate noun tze.'a.Kah ("a cry") — a Hebrew idiom that intensifies the verb by repeating its root as a noun object, roughly "he cried a crying." This cry is doubly modified by two adjectives, ge.do.Lah ("great") and ma.Rah ("bitter"), joined by the conjunction u- ("and"), and the second adjective is further intensified by the phrase 'ad-me.'Od ("up to muchness"), an idiom expressing an extreme degree — "exceedingly."

The verse closes with another vav-consecutive, va-yo.mer ("and he said"), introducing direct speech directed le-'a.Vi ("to his father"). The imperative ba.ra.Khe.ni ("bless me") uses the piel stem, an intensive verbal pattern for the act of blessing, with the object suffix -ni ("me") attached directly to the verb. The addition of gam-'A.ni ("also me") places emphatic stress on Esau's inclusion in the blessing, and the final vocative 'a.Vi ("my father") closes the plea.

Differences between versions

The LXX specifies the father's name, rendering "the words of Isaac his father" (τὰ ῥήματα Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ) where the Hebrew simply has div.Rei 'a.Vi ("the words of his father") without naming Isaac explicitly. The LXX also renders the cry as φωνὴν μεγάλην ("a loud voice") rather than reflecting the Hebrew's cognate construction "cried a cry," and translates ma.Rah ("bitter") with πικρὰν σφόδρα ("very bitter"), shifting the intensifier from the Hebrew idiom 'ad-me.'Od ("up to muchness") to the adverb σφόδρα ("exceedingly"). The Vulgate adds "et consternatus" ("and dismayed"), a phrase not present in the Hebrew text's wording.