Genesis 28:6
וַיַּרְא עֵשָׂו כִּֽי־בֵרַךְ יִצְחָק אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹב וְשִׁלַּח אֹתוֹ פַּדֶּנָֽה אֲרָם לָקַֽחַת־לוֹ מִשָּׁם אִשָּׁה בְּבָרֲכוֹ אֹתוֹ וַיְצַו עָלָיו לֵאמֹר לֹֽא־תִקַּח אִשָּׁה מִבְּנוֹת כְּנָֽעַן׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
וַיַּ֣רְא עֵשָׂ֗ו כִּֽי־בֵרַ֣ךְ יִצְחָק֮ אֶֽת־יַעֲקֹב֒ וְשִׁלַּ֤ח אֹתוֹ֙ פַּדֶּ֣נָֽה אֲרָ֔ם לָקַֽחַת־ל֥וֹ מִשָּׁ֖ם אִשָּׁ֑ה בְּבָרֲכ֣וֹ אֹת֔וֹ וַיְצַ֤ו עָלָיו֙ לֵאמֹ֔ר לֹֽא־תִקַּ֥ח אִשָּׁ֖ה מִבְּנ֥וֹת כְּנָֽעַן׃
ἴδεν δὲ Ἠσαὺ ὅτι εὐλόγησεν Ἰσαὰκ τὸν Ἰακὼβ καὶ ἀπῴχετο εἰς τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας λαβεῖν ἑαυτῷ γυναῖκα, ἐν τῶ αὐτόν, καὶ ἐνετείλατο αὐτῷ λέγων Οὐ λήμψῃ γυναῖκα ἀπὸ τῶν θυγατέρων Χανάαν·
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Videns autem Esau quod benedixisset pater suus Jacob, et misisset eum in Mesopotamiam Syriæ, ut inde uxorem duceret; et quod post benedictionem præcepisset ei, dicens: Non accipies uxorem de filiabus Chanaan:
Esaú se dio cuenta de que Isaac había bendecido a Jacob y lo había enviado a Padán Aram para buscar esposa allí, y que al bendecirlo le había ordenado: “No te cases con ninguna mujer de Canaán”.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Y vió Esaú cómo Isaac había bendecido á Jacob, y le había enviado á Padan-aram, para tomar para sí mujer de allí; y que cuando le bendijo, le había mandado, diciendo: No tomarás mujer de las hijas de Canaán;
Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “ Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”
✦ What the text says
Summary
Esau perceives that Isaac has blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to find a wife there, and that at the moment of blessing him Isaac also commanded Jacob not to marry a Canaanite woman. The verse reports Esau's realization of these prior events as background for what follows in the chapter.
Key words
- va.Yar' ("he saw", H7200) — qal narrative verb opening the sentence; establishes Esau as the one perceiving the following facts, introduced by ki ("that", H3588A).
- ve.Rakh ("he had blessed", H1288) — piel perfect of the same root used twice in the verse; the perfect marks the blessing as a completed action prior to Esau's noticing it.
- shi.Lach ("he had sent off", H7971) — piel sequential perfect continuing the chain of completed prior actions (blessed → sent) that Esau becomes aware of.
- va.ra.Kh...o ("when he blessed him", H1288) — piel infinitive construct with prefixed be- ("when/in") and pronominal suffix "him"; forms a temporal clause locating the command within the act of blessing.
- ti.Kach ("you must take", H3947) — qal imperfect, second person, giving Isaac's direct command in reported speech, distinct in form from the infinitive la.Kachat ("to take") used earlier for Jacob's purpose in going to Paddan-aram.
What the text says
The Hebrew sentence is built as a long subordinate report introduced by va.Yar' ("he saw") plus ki ("that"), which governs a chain of perfect-tense clauses: Isaac ve.Rakh ("had blessed") Jacob, and ve.shi.Lach ("had sent") him to Paddan-aram la.Kachat ("to take") a wife from there. This chain reports background facts as already accomplished before the narrative "seeing." A second temporal clause, be.va.ra.kho oto ("when he blessed him"), uses an infinitive construct with the preposition be- to pin the giving of the command to the specific moment of blessing, syntactically nesting the reported speech (le.'mor, "saying") inside the larger report of what Esau perceived. The prohibition itself shifts from perfect/infinitive forms to the imperfect ti.Kach ("you must take"), marking it as Isaac's direct command rather than narrated background, with lo' ("not", H3808) negating an ongoing or future action rather than a completed one.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew place name Pa.De.nah 'A.ram ("Paddan, toward Aram") is rendered in the LXX as εἰς τὴν Μεσοποταμίαν Συρίας ("into Mesopotamia of Syria") and in the Vulgate as "in Mesopotamiam Syriae," both replacing the proper name Paddan-aram with a geographic description rather than a toponym transliteration.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.