Genesis 3:22

Summary

Yehovah Elohim observes that the man has become like one of the divine group in the knowledge of good and evil, and expresses concern that he might now also reach the tree of life and eat, living forever. The Hebrew sentence built with pen ("lest") is left syntactically unresolved, trailing off before a final action is stated.

Key words

• hayah ("he has become", H1961) — qal perfect, marking the change of the man's condition as a completed fact, not a process.
• ke'achad ("like one", H0259) + mimmenu ("of us", H4480A) — the comparison phrase placing ha'adam ("the man", H0120H) on a par with a member of the divine plurality referenced by Elohim.
• pen ("lest", H6435) — introduces a negative purpose/fear clause; it governs the following imperfect verb and sets up an anticipated but undesired action.
• yishlach ("he should stretch out", H7971K) — qal imperfect, expressing a potential, not-yet-realized action ("might/would stretch").
• laqach / 'akhal / chai ("he will take" H3947G, "he will eat" H0398, "he will live" H2421) — three sequential perfects (vav + perfect) that chain further hypothetical actions onto the pen-clause, each depending grammatically on the one before it.
• le'olam ("for ever", H5769G) — noun with preposition le, marking the temporal extent of the final verb chai ("he will live").

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative formula vayyomer YHWH Elohim ("and Yehovah Elohim said"), introducing direct speech. The interjection hen ("here!", H2005) draws attention to the statement that follows: ha'adam hayah ke'achad mimmenu — "the man has become like one of us." The qal perfect hayah presents this as an accomplished state, while the comparative phrase ke'achad mimmenu uses the cardinal number 'achad ("one") governed by the preposition min ("from/of") plus the plural suffix "us," linking the man's new condition to the divine plurality implied by the plural noun Elohim. The purpose of this new state is given by the infinitive construction lada'at tov vara' ("in knowing good and evil"), using the preposition le with the infinitive da'at ("knowing").

The second half of the verse shifts to a fear-clause introduced by pen ("lest"), governing the imperfect yishlach ("he should stretch out"). This clause is then extended by three sequential perfects — laqach ("he will take"), 'akhal ("he will eat"), chai ("he will live") — each attached with the narrative/sequential vav, forming a chain of potential consequences: stretching the hand, taking from the tree of life, eating, and living le'olam ("forever"). Grammatically, the pen-clause and its chain of consequences are not followed by an explicit main clause of consequence within this verse; the sentence structure in Hebrew leaves the outcome unstated, continuing instead into the next verse's narrative action.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders Elohim with the singular ho theos ("the God") alongside Kyrios, and translates the comparative clause as hōs heis ex hēmōn ("as one of us"), matching the Hebrew ke'achad mimmenu closely. The Vulgate's quasi unus ex nobis factus est similarly preserves the comparison. Both LXX (mē pote) and Vulgate (ne forte) render the Hebrew pen as an open-ended cautionary clause, matching the Hebrew's syntactic incompleteness rather than supplying a resolved main clause.