Genesis 3:21

Summary

Genesis 3:21 reports that Yehovah Elohim made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them with these garments. The verse consists of two sequential actions performed by the deity, marked by consecutive narrative verb forms.

Key words

• va-ya'as ("and he made", H6213H) — qal narrative form, marking the first sequential action in the story.
• le-Adam ("for Adam", H0121G) — proper name with prefixed preposition le (H9005), indicating the recipient of the action.
• ishto ("his wife", H0802H) — feminine singular noun in construct form with pronominal suffix o ("his", H9023), meaning "wife of him."
• kotenot ("garments of", H3801) — feminine plural noun in construct state, linked to the following noun to form "garments of skin."
• va-yalbishem ("and he clothed them", H3847) — hiphil (causative) narrative verb with attached pronominal suffix them (H9038), meaning "he caused them to be clothed."

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative vav va (H9001) attached to ya'as ("he made", H6213H), a qal verb whose subject is the double name Yehovah Elohim (H3068G + H0430G, the latter grammatically plural in form though referring to a singular subject in this construction). The recipients of the action are introduced by two parallel prepositional phrases: le-Adam ("for Adam") and u-le-ishto ("and for his wife," H0802H with suffix H9023), both governed by the preposition le (H9005), which marks the beneficiary of the making.

The object made is expressed through a construct chain: kotenot ("garments of," H3801, feminine plural construct) followed by or ("skin," H5785, masculine singular). This construct relationship binds the two nouns into a single phrase, "garments of skin," where the first noun's form depends grammatically on the second.

The second clause repeats the narrative vav pattern with va-yalbishem ("and he clothed them," H3847), a hiphil verb — the causative stem indicates that the subject caused the object (here embedded as the suffix them, H9038) to be in a clothed state, rather than the subject clothing itself. The two verbs ya'as and yalbish thus present two distinct causative actions by the same subject: making the garments, then causing them to be worn.

Differences between versions

No significant divergences appear between the Hebrew, LXX, and Vulgate texts in this verse; all three preserve the same subject, double action, and object (garments of skin/chitōnas dermatinous/tunicas pelliceas).