Genesis 28:4

Summary

Genesis 28:4 records Isaac's wish that God grant Jacob "the blessing of Abraham," extending it to Jacob's offspring, with the specific purpose of taking possession of the land where Abraham had lived as a sojourner — the same land God had given to Abraham.

Key words

• yi.ten ("may he give", H5414G) — qal imperfect with vav, expressing wish or purpose rather than a completed action, contrasting with na.tan later in the verse.
• bir.Kat ("blessing of", H1293) — feminine singular construct, grammatically bound to 'Avraham, forming the phrase "blessing of Abraham."
• zar.'a-kha ("your offspring", H2233H + H9021) — masculine singular construct with pronominal suffix, extending the blessing beyond Jacob himself to his descendants.
• rish.te-kha ("to take possession of you", H3423H) — qal infinitive with suffix, marking the purpose clause ("in order that you take possession").
• me.gu.Rei-kha ("your sojournings", H4033 + H9021) — masculine plural construct, describing the land not as permanently owned but as a place of temporary dwelling.
• na.Tan ("he gave", H5414G) — qal perfect, a completed action, describing God's past grant to Abraham, in contrast to the imperfect yi.ten at the verse's opening.

What the text says

The verse opens with ve-yi.ten ("and may he give"), a qal imperfect form linked by the vav to the preceding verse, functioning here as a jussive or wish rather than a simple future — Isaac is expressing a desire or blessing formula rather than stating fact. The object is birkat 'Avraham, "the blessing of Abraham," where birkat stands in construct relation to the proper name, indicating that this is specifically the blessing associated with or belonging to Abraham. This blessing is directed lekha ("to you") and then extended u-le-zar'akha ("and to your offspring"), with the construct form zar'a-kha marking the offspring as belonging to the addressee (Jacob).

The purpose of receiving this blessing is expressed through the infinitive construct le-rishtekha, "for your taking possession," governing the object 'et 'eretz megurekha, "the land of your sojournings." The plural construct megurei-kha derives from a root associated with temporary residence, describing the land in terms of the patriarchs' status as sojourners rather than permanent landowners at this narrative point. The relative clause 'asher natan 'Elohim le-Avraham closes the verse with a qal perfect verb, natan, marking a completed past action — God's earlier giving of the land to Abraham — which grammatically anchors the wish of verse 4 to a prior divine act.

Differences between versions

The Vulgate renders the closing relative clause as quam pollicitus est avo tuo ("which he promised to your grandfather"), introducing the word "promised" and "grandfather," where the Hebrew simply has natan... le-Avraham ("he gave... to Abraham") without an explicit kinship term or a distinct verb for "promise." The LXX (Swete) similarly translates natan with dedōken ("has given"), matching the Hebrew perfect more closely than the Vulgate's "promised."