Genesis 3:9

Summary

This verse narrates that Yehovah ("Yehovah", H3068G) 'Elohim ("God", H0430G) called out to ha'adam ("the man", H0120H) and asked him a single-word question about his location. The Hebrew question is compressed into one term combining the interrogative particle with a pronominal suffix.

Key words

• va-yiqra ("and he called", H7121G) — qal narrative form (vav + prefix conjugation) marking sequential action: "and then he called."
• YHWH ("Yehovah", H3068G) — the divine proper name, used here as subject alongside 'Elohim.
• 'Elohim ("God", H0430G) — masculine plural noun functioning as the divine title paired with the name YHWH.
• ha'adam ("the man", H0120H) — noun with definite article ha (H9009), marking a specific referent, "the man," rather than "a man" or the proper name "Adam."
• 'ayekkah ("where are you?", H0335 + H9041) — interrogative particle 'ayeh fused with the second-person masculine singular pronominal suffix -kah, producing a single word that means "where [are] you."

What the text says

The verse consists of two narrative clauses joined by the vav-consecutive construction, a typical Biblical Hebrew device for sequential storytelling ("and he called... and he said..."). The subject of both verbs is the compound designation YHWH 'Elohim, appearing together as in the surrounding narrative of this chapter. The object of the calling is ha'adam, "the man," with the definite article indicating a specific, already-known individual within the narrative rather than introducing him for the first time.

The most distinctive feature of this verse is the final word, 'ayekkah. In the Hebrew, the interrogative 'ayeh ("where") and the second-person singular suffix -kah ("you," masculine) are fused into one word. This single-word question, "where are you?", is what YHWH 'Elohim speaks to the man; no additional vocative name is grammatically present in the Hebrew clause itself — the pronoun encoded in the suffix already specifies that a male singular addressee is meant.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the address with the vocative "Ἀδάμ" inserted directly into the spoken question ("καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ Ἀδάμ, ποῦ εἶ;" — "and he said to him, Adam, where are you?"), adding the proper name as a direct address that is not present as a separate word in the Hebrew text, where the name is only implied through the object ha'adam earlier in the verse. The Vulgate ("Vocavitque Dominus Deus Adam, et dixit ei: Ubi es?") treats 'adam as the proper name "Adam" directly as the object of the calling, without the article that the Hebrew ha'adam carries, differing from the Hebrew's use of the definite article on a common noun.