Genesis 28:20

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Then Jacob made a vow, saying,“If God is with me and protects me on this journey I am taking and gives me food to eat and clothing to wear,

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיִּדַּ֥ר יַעֲקֹ֖ב נֶ֣דֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר אִם־יִהְיֶ֨ה אֱלֹהִ֜ים עִמָּדִ֗י וּשְׁמָרַ֙נִי֙ בַּדֶּ֤רֶךְ הַזֶּה֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר אָנֹכִ֣י הוֹלֵ֔ךְ וְנָֽתַן־לִ֥י לֶ֛חֶם לֶאֱכֹ֖ל וּבֶ֥גֶד לִלְבֹּֽשׁ

Transliteration

wə-yiddar yaʿăqōb neder lēʾmōr if-yihyeh ʾĕlōhîm ʿimmādî û-šəmāranî in-the-derek the-this which I hôlēk wə-nātan-lî leḥem to-eat and-beged to-wear

Grammar Details

• *wə-yiddar*: waw consecutive + qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he vowed
• *yaʿăqōb*: proper noun - Jacob
• *neder*: noun, masculine singular - vow
• *lēʾmōr*: qal infinitive construct - saying
• *yihyeh*: qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - will be
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: noun, masculine plural - God
• *ʿimmādî*: preposition + 1st common singular suffix - with me
• *û-šəmāranî*: waw conjunction + qal perfect 3rd masculine singular + 1st common singular suffix - and will keep me
• *derek*: noun, masculine singular + definite article - the way/road
• *hôlēk*: qal participle masculine singular - going
• *wə-nātan-lî*: waw conjunction + qal perfect 3rd masculine singular + preposition + 1st common singular suffix - and will give to me
• *leḥem*: noun, masculine singular - bread/food
• *beged*: noun, masculine singular - clothing/garment

Word Meanings

• *yiddar*: vowed/made a vow/pledged
• *neder*: vow/pledge/promise
• *yihyeh*: will be/becomes/remains
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: God/divine beings (plural form with singular meaning)
• *ʿimmādî*: with me/by my side
• *šəmāranî*: will keep me/will protect me/will watch over me
• *derek*: way/road/journey/path
• *hôlēk*: going/walking/traveling
• *nātan*: will give/will provide/will grant
• *leḥem*: bread/food/nourishment
• *beged*: clothing/garment/covering

Referenced Verses

• 2 Sam 15:8 : 8 For I made this vow when I was living in Geshur in Aram:‘If the LORD really does allow me to return to Jerusalem, I will serve the LORD.
• Gen 31:13 : 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed the sacred stone and made a vow to me. Now leave this land immediately and return to your native land.’”
• 1 Tim 6:8 : 8 But if we have food and shelter, we will be satisfied with that.
• Gen 28:15 : 15 I am with you! I will protect you wherever you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I promised you!”
• Lev 27:1-9 : 1 Redemption of Vowed People The LORD spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them,‘When a man makes a special votive offering based on the conversion value of persons to the LORD, 3 the conversion value of the male from twenty years old up to sixty years old is fifty shekels by the standard of the sanctuary shekel. 4 If the person is a female, the conversion value is thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the conversion value of the male is twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 6 If the person is one month old up to five years old, the conversion value of the male is five shekels of silver, and for the female the conversion value is three shekels of silver. 7 If the person is from sixty years old and older, if he is a male the conversion value is fifteen shekels, and for the female ten shekels. 8 If he is too poor to pay the conversion value, he must stand the person before the priest and the priest will establish his conversion value; according to what the man who made the vow can afford, the priest will establish his conversion value. 9 Redemption of Vowed Animals“‘If what is vowed is a kind of animal from which an offering may be presented to the LORD, anything which he gives to the LORD from this kind of animal will be holy. 10 He must not replace or exchange it, good for bad or bad for good, and if he does indeed exchange one animal for another animal, then both the original animal and its substitute will be holy. 11 If what is vowed is an unclean animal from which an offering must not be presented to the LORD, then he must stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. According to the assessed conversion value of the priest, thus it will be. 13 If, however, the person who made the vow redeems the animal, he must add one fifth to its conversion value. 14 Redemption of Vowed Houses“‘If a man consecrates his house as holy to the LORD, the priest will establish its conversion value, whether good or bad. Just as the priest establishes its conversion value, thus it will stand. 15 If the one who consecrates it redeems his house, he must add to it one fifth of its conversion value in silver, and it will belong to him. 16 Redemption of Vowed Fields“‘If a man consecrates to the LORD some of his own landed property, the conversion value must be calculated in accordance with the amount of seed needed to sow it, a homer of barley seed being priced at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he consecrates his field in the jubilee year, the conversion value will stand, 18 but if he consecrates his field after the jubilee, the priest will calculate the price for him according to the years that are left until the next jubilee year, and it will be deducted from the conversion value. 19 If, however, the one who consecrated the field redeems it, he must add to it one fifth of the conversion price and it will belong to him. 20 If he does not redeem the field, but sells the field to someone else, he may never redeem it. 21 When it reverts in the jubilee, the field will be holy to the LORD like a permanently dedicated field; it will become the priest’s property. 22 “‘If he consecrates to the LORD a field he has purchased, which is not part of his own landed property, 23 the priest will calculate for him the amount of its conversion value until the jubilee year, and he must pay the conversion value on that jubilee day as something that is holy to the LORD. 24 In the jubilee year the field will return to the one from whom he bought it, the one to whom it belongs as landed property. 25 Every conversion value must be calculated by the standard of the sanctuary shekel; twenty gerahs to the shekel. 26 Redemption of the Firstborn“‘Surely no man may consecrate a firstborn that already belongs to the LORD as a firstborn among the animals; whether it is an ox or a sheep, it belongs to the LORD. 27 If, however, it is among the unclean animals, he may ransom it according to its conversion value and must add one fifth to it, but if it is not redeemed it must be sold according to its conversion value. 28 Things Permanently Dedicated to the Lord“‘Surely anything which a man permanently dedicates to the LORD from all that belongs to him, whether from people, animals, or his landed property, must be neither sold nor redeemed; anything permanently dedicated is most holy to the LORD. 29 Any human being who is permanently dedicated must not be ransomed; such a person must be put to death. 30 Redemption of the Tithe“‘Any tithe of the land, from the grain of the land or from the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD. 31 If a man redeems part of his tithe, however, he must add one fifth to it. 32 All the tithe of herd or flock, everything which passes under the rod, the tenth one will be holy to the LORD. 33 The owner must not examine the animals to distinguish between good and bad, and he must not exchange it. If, however, he does exchange it, both the original animal and its substitute will be holy. It must not be redeemed.’” 34 Final Colophon These are the commandments which the LORD commanded Moses to tell the Israelites at Mount Sinai.
• Num 6:1-9 : 1 The Nazirite Vow Then the LORD spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them,‘When either a man or a woman takes a special vow, to take a vow as a Nazirite, to separate himself to the LORD, 3 he must separate himself from wine and strong drink, he must drink neither vinegar made from wine nor vinegar made from strong drink, nor may he drink any juice of grapes, nor eat fresh grapes or raisins. 4 All the days of his separation he must not eat anything that is produced by the grapevine, from seed to skin. 5 “‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor may be used on his head until the time is fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD. He will be holy, and he must let the locks of hair on his head grow long. 6 “‘All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he must not contact a dead body. 7 He must not defile himself even for his father or his mother or his brother or his sister if they die, because the separation for his God is on his head. 8 All the days of his separation he must be holy to the LORD. 9 Contingencies for Defilement“‘If anyone dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his consecrated head, then he must shave his head on the day of his purification– on the seventh day he must shave it. 10 On the eighth day he is to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting. 11 Then the priest will offer one for a purification offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him, because of his transgression in regard to the corpse. So he must reconsecrate his head on that day. 12 He must rededicate to the LORD the days of his separation and bring a male lamb in its first year as a reparation offering, but the former days will not be counted because his separation was defiled. 13 Fulfilling the Vows“‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite: When the days of his separation are fulfilled, he must be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting, 14 and he must present his offering to the LORD: one male lamb in its first year without blemish for a burnt offering, one ewe lamb in its first year without blemish for a purification offering, one ram without blemish for a peace offering, 15 and a basket of bread made without yeast, cakes of fine flour mixed with olive oil, wafers made without yeast and smeared with olive oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings. 16 “‘Then the priest must present all these before the LORD and offer his purification offering and his burnt offering. 17 Then he must offer the ram as a peace offering to the LORD, with the basket of bread made without yeast; the priest must also offer his grain offering and his drink offering. 18 “‘Then the Nazirite must shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting and must take the hair from his consecrated head and put it on the fire where the peace offering is burning. 19 And the priest must take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one cake made without yeast from the basket, and one wafer made without yeast, and put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated head; 20 then the priest must wave them as a wave offering before the LORD; it is a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. After this the Nazirite may drink wine.’
• Num 21:2-3 : 2 So Israel made a vow to the LORD and said,“If you will indeed deliver this people into our hand, then we will utterly destroy their cities.” 3 The LORD listened to the voice of Israel and delivered up the Canaanites, and they utterly destroyed them and their cities. So the name of the place was called Hormah.
• Judg 11:30-31 : 30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD, saying,“If you really do hand the Ammonites over to me, 31 then whoever is the first to come through the doors of my house to meet me when I return safely from fighting the Ammonites– he will belong to the LORD and I will offer him up as a burnt sacrifice.”
• 1 Sam 1:11 : 11 She made a vow saying,“O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, if you would truly look on the suffering of your servant, and would keep me in mind and not neglect your servant, and give your servant a male child, then I will dedicate him to the LORD all the days of his life. His hair will never be cut.”
• 1 Sam 1:28 : 28 So I also dedicate him to the LORD. For all the days of his life he is dedicated to the LORD.”Then he bowed down there in worship to the LORD.
• 1 Sam 14:24 : 24 Jonathan Violates Saul’s Oath Now the men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had made the army agree to this oath:“Cursed be the man who eats food before evening! I will get my vengeance on my enemies!” So no one in the army ate anything.
• Neh 9:1-9 : 1 The People Acknowledge Their Sin before God On the twenty-fourth day of this same month the Israelites assembled; they were fasting and wearing sackcloth, their heads covered with dust. 2 Those truly of Israelite descent separated from all the foreigners, standing and confessing their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors. 3 For one-fourth of the day they stood in their place and read from the book of the law of the LORD their God, and for another fourth they were confessing their sins and worshiping the LORD their God. 4 Then the Levites– Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Kenani– stood on the steps and called out loudly to the LORD their God. 5 The Levites– Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah– said,“Stand up and bless the LORD your God!”“May you be blessed, O LORD our God, from age to age. May your glorious name be blessed; may it be lifted up above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, along with all their multitude of stars, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You impart life to them all, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. 7 “You are the LORD God who chose Abram and brought him forth from Ur of the Chaldeans. You changed his name to Abraham. 8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a covenant with him to give his descendants the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, for you are righteous. 9 “You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt, and you heard their cry at the Red Sea. 10 You performed awesome signs against Pharaoh, against his servants, and against all the people of his land, for you knew that the Egyptians had acted presumptuously against them. You made for yourself a name that is celebrated to this day.
• Ps 22:25 : 25 You are the reason I offer praise in the great assembly; I will fulfill my promises before the LORD’s loyal followers.
• Ps 56:12 : 12 I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O God; I will give you the thank-offerings you deserve,
• Ps 61:5 : 5 For you, O God, hear my vows; you grant me the reward that belongs to your loyal followers.
• Ps 61:8 : 8 Then I will sing praises to your name continually, as I fulfill my vows day after day.
• Ps 66:13 : 13 I will enter your temple with burnt sacrifices; I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
• Ps 76:11 : 11 Make vows to the LORD your God and repay them! Let all those who surround him bring tribute to the awesome one!
• Ps 116:14 : 14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD before all his people.
• Ps 116:18 : 18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD before all his people,
• Ps 119:106 : 106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn to keep your just regulations.
• Ps 132:2 : 2 and how he made a vow to the LORD, and swore an oath to the Powerful One of Jacob.
• Eccl 5:1-7 : 1 Rash Vows(4:17) Be careful what you do when you go to the temple of God; draw near to listen rather than to offer a sacrifice like fools, for they do not realize that they are doing wrong. 2 (5:1) Do not be rash with your mouth or hasty in your heart to bring up a matter before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth! Therefore, let your words be few. 3 Just as dreams come when there are many cares, so the rash vow of a fool occurs when there are many words. 4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in paying it. For God takes no pleasure in fools: Pay what you vow! 5 It is better for you not to vow than to vow and not pay it. 6 Do not let your mouth cause you to sin, and do not tell the priest,“It was a mistake!” Why make God angry at you so that he would destroy the work of your hands?” 7 Just as there is futility in many dreams, so also in many words. Therefore, fear God!
• Isa 19:21 : 21 The LORD will reveal himself to the Egyptians, and they will acknowledge the LORD’s authority at that time. They will present sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.
• John 1:16 : 16 For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another.
• Acts 18:18 : 18 Paul Returns to Antioch in Syria Paul, after staying many more days in Corinth, said farewell to the brothers and sailed away to Syria accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. He had his hair cut off at Cenchrea because he had made a vow.
• Acts 23:12-15 : 12 The Plot to Kill Paul When morning came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul. 13 There were more than forty of them who formed this conspiracy. 14 They went to the chief priests and the elders and said,“We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to partake of anything until we have killed Paul. 15 So now you and the council request the commanding officer to bring him down to you, as if you were going to determine his case by conducting a more thorough inquiry. We are ready to kill him before he comes near this place.”