Genesis 12:3

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing through you.”

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַאֲבָֽרֲכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר וְנִבְרְכ֣וּ בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָֽה׃

Transliteration

And-waʾăbārekāh mebārekêkā and-ûmeqallelkā ʾāʾōr and-wenibrekû in-bekā all mišpeḥōt the-hāʾădāmāh.

Grammar Details

• *waʾăbārekāh*: conjunction + imperfect 1st person singular cohortative - and I will bless
• *mebārekêkā*: participle masculine plural construct + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - those who bless you
• *ûmeqallelkā*: conjunction + participle masculine singular construct + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - and the one who curses you
• *ʾāʾōr*: imperfect 1st person singular - I will curse
• *wenibrekû*: conjunction + perfect 3rd person plural niphal (passive/reflexive) - and they will be blessed/will bless themselves
• *bekā*: preposition + 2nd person masculine singular suffix - in you
• *mišpeḥōt*: noun feminine plural construct - families/clans of
• *hāʾădāmāh*: article + noun feminine singular - the ground/earth/land

Word Meanings

• *mebārekêkā*: those who bless you/your blessers
• *meqallelkā*: one who curses you/your curser
• *wenibrekû*: they will be blessed/they will bless themselves/they will find blessing
• *mišpeḥōt*: families/clans/tribes
• *hāʾădāmāh*: the ground/earth/soil/land

Referenced Verses

• Gen 22:18 : 18 Because you have obeyed me, all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.’”
• Gen 26:4 : 4 I will multiply your descendants so they will be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands. All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants.
• Gen 27:29 : 29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you. You will be lord over your brothers, and the sons of your mother will bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed, and those who bless you be blessed.”
• Gal 3:8 : 8 And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel to Abraham ahead of time, saying,“All the nations will be blessed in you.”
• Gen 18:18 : 18 After all, Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all the nations on the earth may receive blessing through him.
• Gen 28:14 : 14 Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. And so all the families of the earth may receive blessings through you and through your descendants.
• Num 24:9 : 9 They crouch and lie down like a lion, and as a lioness, who can stir him? Blessed is the one who blesses you, and cursed is the one who curses you!’”
• Gal 3:16 : 16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. Scripture does not say,“and to the descendants,” referring to many, but“and to your descendant,” referring to one, who is Christ.
• 1 Cor 1:30 : 30 He is the reason you have a relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
• Rev 7:9 : 9 After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands.
• Gal 3:28 : 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female– for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.
• Eph 1:3 : 3 Spiritual Blessings in Christ Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.
• Col 3:11 : 11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.
• Exod 23:22 : 22 But if you diligently obey him and do all that I command, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and I will be an adversary to your adversaries.
• Acts 3:25-26 : 25 You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham,‘And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ 26 God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.”
• Rom 4:11 : 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised, so that he would become the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised, that they too could have righteousness credited to them.
• Ps 72:17 : 17 May his fame endure! May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! May all nations consider him to be favored by God!
• Matt 25:40 : 40 And the king will answer them,‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
• Matt 25:45 : 45 Then he will answer them,‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
• Gen 30:27 : 27 But Laban said to him,“If I have found favor in your sight, please stay here, for I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me on account of you.”
• Gen 30:30 : 30 Indeed, you had little before I arrived, but now your possessions have increased many times over. The LORD has blessed you wherever I worked. But now, how long must it be before I do something for my own family too?”
• Gen 39:5 : 5 From the time Potiphar appointed him over his household and over all that he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household for Joseph’s sake. The blessing of the LORD was on everything that he had, both in his house and in his fields.