Genesis 30:20

Summary

Leah names her sixth son Zebulun, linking his name to two statements: that God has endowed her with a "good endowment" (zeved tov), and that her husband will now do something expressed by the verb yizbeleni ("he will honor me"). The verse presents a double wordplay built around the sounds zevad- and -zebul-.

Key words

• zevadani ("he has endowed me", H2064) — qal perfect, 3rd person subject ("he/it") with 1cs object suffix; a completed action attributed to 'Elohim ("God", H0430G).
• 'otiy — the object marker H0853 plus 1cs suffix, restating "me" even though the verb already carries the suffix -ni; this doubled marking of the object gives emphasis to "me" as the one endowed.
• zeved tov ("a good endowment", H2065 + H2896A) — an indefinite noun with an adjective, naming the gift itself rather than repeating the verb's root exactly (a related but distinct noun form).
• yizbeleni ("he will honor me", H2082) — qal imperfect, expressing a future or ongoing action by "he" (the husband), with the 1cs suffix "me" attached directly to the verb.
• zevulun (H2074) — the proper name given at the end, phonetically echoing both zeved (the noun for "endowment") and the consonants of yizbeleni.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with Leah's speech introduced by va-Tomer ("and she said", narrative vav + qal verb), a standard narrative construction. Her statement has two parts joined by the temporal phrase ha-pa'am ("this time"): first, a perfect-tense claim that 'Elohim has already "endowed" her (zevadani) with a "good endowment" (zeved tov); second, an imperfect-tense expectation that her husband "will honor me" (yizbeleni), justified by the causal clause ki yaladti lo shishah vanim ("for I have borne him six sons"). The object marker 'otiy after zevadani is grammatically redundant, since the verb already carries the 1cs suffix -ni; this repetition places extra weight on "me" as recipient of the divine gift.

The resulting name Zevulun draws on the sounds of both zeved ("endowment") and the root behind yizbeleni, so the child's name encapsulates both halves of Leah's statement rather than reflecting a single verb.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders yizbeleni with αἱρετιεῖ ("he will choose/prefer"), a sense of selection rather than "honor." The Vulgate instead reads etiam hac vice mecum erit maritus meus ("this time too my husband will be with me"), emphasizing presence/dwelling rather than honor or choice. The Hebrew verb's precise meaning behind H2082 is reflected differently in each version, though all three preserve the causal link to "six sons."