Genesis 28:4

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

May he give you and your descendants the blessing he gave to Abraham so that you may possess the land God gave to Abraham, the land where you have been living as a temporary resident.”

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְיִֽתֶּן־לְךָ֙ אֶת־בִּרְכַּ֣ת אַבְרָהָ֔ם לְךָ֖ וּלְזַרְעֲךָ֣ אִתָּ֑ךְ לְרִשְׁתְּךָ֙ אֶת־אֶ֣רֶץ מְגֻרֶ֔יךָ אֲשֶׁר־נָתַ֥ן אֱלֹהִ֖ים לְאַבְרָהָֽם

Transliteration

wə-yitten-ləkā ʾet-birkat ʾabrāhām to-you and-to-zarʿăkā ʾittāk lərištəkā ʾet-ʾereṣ məgūrekā ʾăšer-nātan ʾĕlōhîm to-ʾabrāhām

Grammar Details

• *wə-yitten-ləkā*: waw conjunction + qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular + preposition + 2nd masculine singular suffix - and may he give to you
• *ʾet-birkat*: direct object marker + noun, feminine singular construct - the blessing of
• *ʾabrāhām*: proper noun - Abraham
• *zarʿăkā*: noun, masculine singular + 2nd masculine singular suffix - your seed/offspring
• *ʾittāk*: preposition + 2nd masculine singular suffix - with you
• *lərištəkā*: preposition + qal infinitive construct + 2nd masculine singular suffix - for your possessing
• *ʾet-ʾereṣ*: direct object marker + noun, feminine singular construct - the land of
• *məgūrekā*: noun, masculine plural construct + 2nd masculine singular suffix - your sojournings
• *ʾăšer-nātan*: relative pronoun + qal perfect 3rd masculine singular - which gave
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: noun, masculine plural - God

Word Meanings

• *yitten*: give/grant/bestow
• *birkat*: blessing/gift/empowerment
• *zarʿăkā*: your seed/your offspring/your descendants
• *lərištəkā*: for your possessing/for your inheriting/to possess
• *ʾereṣ*: land/earth/territory
• *məgūrekā*: your sojournings/your temporary dwellings/your alien residences
• *ʾĕlōhîm*: God/gods/divine beings (plural form with singular meaning)

Referenced Verses

• Gen 12:7 : 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said,“To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
• Ps 39:12 : 12 Hear my prayer, O LORD! Listen to my cry for help! Do not ignore my sobbing! For I am a foreign resident with you, a temporary settler, just as all my ancestors were.
• 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!
• Ps 105:6-9 : 6 O children of Abraham, God’s servant, you descendants of Jacob, God’s chosen ones! 7 He is the LORD our God; he carries out judgment throughout the earth. 8 He always remembers his covenantal decree, the promise he made to a thousand generations– 9 the promise he made to Abraham, the promise he made by oath to Isaac! 10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as a lasting promise, 11 saying,“To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.” 12 When they were few in number, just a very few, and resident foreigners within it,
• Rom 4:7-8 : 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the one against whom the Lord will never count sin.”
• 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.”
• Gal 3:14 : 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles, so that we could receive the promise of the Spirit by faith.
• 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.
• Heb 11:9-9 : 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, he received the ability to procreate, because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy. 12 So in fact children were fathered by one man– and this one as good as dead– like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore. 13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.
• Gen 13:14-17 : 14 After Lot had departed, the LORD said to Abram,“Look from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted. 17 Get up and walk throughout the land, for I will give it to you.”
• Gen 15:5-7 : 5 The LORD took him outside and said,“Gaze into the sky and count the stars– if you are able to count them!” Then he said to him,“So will your descendants be.” 6 Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD credited it as righteousness to him. 7 The LORD said to him,“I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
• Gen 15:18-21 : 18 That day the LORD made a covenant with Abram:“To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River– 19 the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, 20 Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, 21 Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites, and Jebusites.”
• Gen 17:6-8 : 6 I will make you extremely fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. 7 I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you. 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan– the land where you are now residing– to you and your descendants after you as a permanent possession. I will be their God.”
• Gen 22:17-18 : 17 I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be as countless as the stars in the sky or the grains of sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the strongholds of their enemies. 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 12:1-3 : 1 The Obedience of Abram Now the LORD said to Abram,“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. 2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 3 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.”