Genesis 9:26

Summary

Genesis 9:26 records Noah's declaration blessing Yehovah as the God of Shem, and pronouncing that Canaan will be a slave. The verse uses a blessing formula directed not at Shem himself but at Yehovah in relation to Shem, paired with a jussive establishing Canaan's subordinate status.

Key words

• barukh ("blessed", H1288) — qal passive participle, masculine singular; the blessing formula applies to Yehovah, not directly to Shem, contrasting with a possible "blessed is Shem" formulation.
• 'elohei ("God of", H0430G) — masculine plural construct form; grammatically plural (as 'elohim typically is) but functioning as a singular divine title bound to Shem in a construct chain.
• yehi ("let him be", H1961) — qal jussive; expresses a wish/command rather than a simple future statement, marking Canaan's status as a decree rather than a mere prediction.
• 'eved ("a slave", H5650) — masculine singular noun, the predicate describing Canaan's assigned condition.
• lamo ("to them", H9038) — preposition la ("to/for") + archaic pronominal suffix; morphologically plural ("their/them") though the referent in context appears to be singular.

What the text says

The sentence opens with the narrative verb va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), introducing direct speech. The blessing itself is structured as barukh Yehovah 'elohei Shem — "blessed [be] Yehovah, God of Shem" — a construct chain where 'elohei ("God of") binds Yehovah to Shem, meaning the blessing is formally directed at the deity described as belonging to Shem, rather than at Shem as its direct object. This differs structurally from a hypothetical "blessed is Shem."

The second clause pivots with vi-yehi ("and let him be"), a jussive form that casts Canaan's servitude as a spoken decree within the narrative rather than a flat statement of fact. The final phrase 'eved lamo ("a slave to them/him") uses the suffix lamo, an archaic form that is grammatically plural ("to them") even where translations render it as singular ("his," "of Shem").

Differences between versions

The Hebrew lamo is morphologically plural ("to them"), but the LXX renders it as αὐτοῦ ("his," singular) and the Vulgate as ejus ("his," singular) — both translations, along with the Spanish and English versions given (BSB, RV1909, SBLIBRE), resolve the suffix as referring singularly to Shem ("servant of Shem"), where the Hebrew form itself does not explicitly name Shem as the referent within this phrase.