Genesis 25:23

World English Bible (2000)

Yahweh said to her, "Two nations are in your womb. Two peoples will be separated from your body. The one people will be stronger than the other people. The elder will serve the younger."

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה לָ֗הּ שְׁנֵ֤י *גיים **גוֹיִם֙ בְּבִטְנֵ֔ךְ וּשְׁנֵ֣י לְאֻמִּ֔ים מִמֵּעַ֖יִךְ יִפָּרֵ֑דוּ וּלְאֹם֙ מִלְאֹ֣ם יֶֽאֱמָ֔ץ וְרַ֖ב יַעֲבֹ֥ד צָעִֽיר׃

Transliteration

wə-yōʾmer yhwh lāh šənê gôyim bə-ḇiṭnēḵ û-šənê ləʾummîm mi-mēʿayiḵ yippārēḏû û-ləʾōm mi-ləʾōm yeʾĕmāṣ wə-raḇ yaʿăḇōḏ ṣāʿîr

Grammar Details

• *wə-yōʾmer*: waw consecutive + Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - and said
• *yhwh*: divine name - YHWH
• *lāh*: preposition + 3rd feminine singular suffix - to her
• *šənê*: numeral, masculine dual construct - two of
• *gôyim*: noun, masculine plural - nations
• *bə-ḇiṭnēḵ*: preposition + noun, feminine singular + 2nd feminine singular suffix - in your womb
• *û-šənê*: waw conjunction + numeral, masculine dual construct - and two of
• *ləʾummîm*: noun, masculine plural - peoples
• *mi-mēʿayiḵ*: preposition + noun, masculine plural + 2nd feminine singular suffix - from your bowels
• *yippārēḏû*: Niphal imperfect, 3rd masculine plural - will be separated
• *û-ləʾōm*: waw conjunction + noun, masculine singular - and people
• *mi-ləʾōm*: preposition + noun, masculine singular - than people
• *yeʾĕmāṣ*: Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - will be stronger
• *wə-raḇ*: waw conjunction + adjective, masculine singular - and greater
• *yaʿăḇōḏ*: Qal imperfect, 3rd masculine singular - will serve
• *ṣāʿîr*: adjective, masculine singular - younger

Word Meanings

• *gôyim*: nations/peoples/gentiles
• *ləʾummîm*: peoples/nations/tribes
• *yippārēḏû*: will be separated/will be divided/will part
• *yeʾĕmāṣ*: will be stronger/will prevail/will overpower
• *wə-raḇ* *yaʿăḇōḏ* *ṣāʿîr*: and the older will serve the younger/and the greater will serve the lesser

Referenced Verses

• Gen 27:29 : 29 Let peoples serve you, and nations bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers. Let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you. Blessed be everyone who blesses you."
• Gen 27:40 : 40 By your sword will you live, and you will serve your brother. It will happen, when you will break loose, that you shall shake his yoke from off your neck."
• 2 Sam 8:14 : 14 He put garrisons in Edom; throughout all Edom put he garrisons, and all the Edomites became servants to David. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.
• Gen 17:16 : 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. Yes, I will bless her, and she will be a mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."
• Gen 24:60 : 60 They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, "Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your seed possess the gate of those who hate them."
• Num 20:14 : 14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: "Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the travail that has happened to us:
• Mal 1:2-5 : 2 "I have loved you," says Yahweh. Yet you say, "How have you loved us?" "Wasn't Esau Jacob's brother?" says Yahweh, "Yet I loved Jacob; 3 but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness." 4 Whereas Edom says, "We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;" thus says Yahweh of Armies, "They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them 'The Wicked Land,' even the people against whom Yahweh shows wrath forever." 5 Your eyes will see, and you will say, "Yahweh is great--even beyond the border of Israel!"
• Rom 9:10-13 : 10 Not only so, but Rebecca also conceived by one, by our father Isaac. 11 For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him who calls, 12 it was said to her, "The elder will serve the younger." 13 Even as it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
• Gen 17:4 : 4 "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.
• Gen 25:27 : 27 The boys grew. Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field. Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents.
• Gen 32:6 : 6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "We came to your brother Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him."
• Gen 33:3 : 3 He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
• Gen 36:31 : 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the children of Israel.
• 1 Kgs 22:47 : 47 There was no king in Edom: a deputy was king.
• 1 Chr 18:13 : 13 He put garrisons in Edom; and all the Edomites became servants to David. Yahweh gave victory to David wherever he went.
• 2 Chr 25:11-12 : 11 Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went to the Valley of Salt, and struck of the children of Seir ten thousand. 12 [other] ten thousand did the children of Judah carry away alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were broken in pieces.
• Ps 60:8-9 : 8 Moab is my wash basin. I will throw my shoe on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia." 9 Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom?
• Ps 83:5-9 : 5 For they have conspired together with one mind. They form an alliance against you. 6 The tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites; Moab, and the Hagrites; 7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek; Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; 8 Assyria also is joined with them. They have helped the children of Lot. Selah. 9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon; 10 who perished at Endor, who became as dung for the earth. 11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb; yes, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna; 12 who said, "Let us take possession of God's pasturelands." 13 My God, make them like tumbleweed; like chaff before the wind. 14 As the fire that burns the forest, as the flame that sets the mountains on fire, 15 so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.
• Isa 34:1-9 : 1 Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear; the world, and everything that comes from it. 2 For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter. 3 Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up; and the mountains will melt in their blood. 4 All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree. 5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the sky. Behold, it will come down on Edom, and on the people of my curse, for judgment. 6 Yahweh's sword is filled with blood. It is covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams; for Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 The wild oxen will come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; and their land will be drunken with blood, and their dust made greasy with fat. 8 For Yahweh has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 Its streams will be turned into pitch, its dust into sulfur, And its land will become burning pitch. 10 It won't be quenched night nor day. Its smoke will go up forever. From generation to generation, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine will possess it. The owl and the raven will dwell in it. He will stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness. 12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there; and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 Thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and thistles in its fortresses; and it will be a habitation of jackals, a court for ostriches. 14 The wild animals of the desert will meet with the wolves, and the wild goat will cry to his fellow. Yes, the night creature shall settle there, and shall find herself a place of rest. 15 The arrow snake will make her nest there, and lay, hatch, and gather under her shade. Yes, the kites will be gathered there, every one with her mate. 16 Search in the book of Yahweh, and read: not one of these will be missing. none will lack her mate. For my mouth has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it to them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
• Isa 63:1-6 : 1 Who is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this who is glorious in his clothing, marching in the greatness of his strength? "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why are you red in your clothing, and your garments like him who treads in the wine vat? 3 "I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with me: yes, I trod them in my anger, and trampled them in my wrath; and their lifeblood is sprinkled on my garments, and I have stained all my clothing. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. 5 I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold: therefore my own arm brought salvation to me; and my wrath, it upheld me. 6 I trod down the peoples in my anger, and made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth."
• Jer 49:7-9 : 7 Of Edom. Thus says Yahweh of Armies: Is wisdom no more in Teman? is counsel perished from the prudent? is their wisdom vanished? 8 Flee, turn back, dwell in the depths, inhabitants of Dedan; for I will bring the calamity of Esau on him, the time that I shall visit him. 9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleaning grapes? if thieves by night, wouldn't they destroy until they had enough? 10 But I have made Esau bare, I have uncovered his secret places, and he shall not be able to hide himself: his seed is destroyed, and his brothers, and his neighbors; and he is no more. 11 Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows trust in me. 12 For thus says Yahweh: Behold, they to whom it didn't pertain to drink of the cup shall certainly drink; and are you he who shall altogether go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you shall surely drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, says Yahweh, that Bozrah shall become an astonishment, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all its cities shall be perpetual wastes. 14 I have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, [saying], Gather yourselves together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle. 15 For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men. 16 As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill: though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there, says Yahweh. 17 Edom shall become an astonishment: everyone who passes by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all its plagues. 18 As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities of it, says Yahweh, no man shall dwell there, neither shall any son of man live therein. 19 Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, him will I appoint over it: for who is like me? and who will appoint me a time? and who is the shepherd who will stand before me? 20 Therefore hear the counsel of Yahweh, that he has taken against Edom; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely they shall drag them away, [even] the little ones of the flock; surely he shall make their habitation desolate over them. 21 The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in the Red Sea. 22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his wings against Bozrah: and the heart of the mighty men of Edom at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
• Ezek 25:12-14 : 12 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them; 13 therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword. 14 I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord Yahweh.
• Ezek 35:1-9 : 1 Moreover the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, 3 and tell it, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and an astonishment. 4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 5 Because you have had a perpetual enmity, and have given over the children of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the iniquity of the end; 6 therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you: since you have not hated blood, therefore blood shall pursue you. 7 Thus will I make Mount Seir an astonishment and a desolation; and I will cut off from it him who passes through and him who returns. 8 I will fill its mountains with its slain: in your hills and in your valleys and in all your watercourses shall they fall who are slain with the sword. 9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. 10 Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas Yahweh was there: 11 therefore, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I will do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have shown out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I shall judge you. 12 You shall know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they have been given us to devour. 13 You have magnified yourselves against me with your mouth, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard it. 14 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate. 15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
• Amos 1:11-12 : 11 Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever; 12 but I will send a fire on Teman, and it will devour the palaces of Bozrah."
• Obad 1:1-9 : 1 The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord Yahweh says about Edom. We have heard news from Yahweh, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, "Arise, and let's rise up against her in battle. 2 Behold, I have made you small among the nations. You are greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, 'Who will bring me down to the ground?' 4 Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there," says Yahweh. 5 "If thieves came to you, if robbers by night--oh, what disaster awaits you--wouldn't they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn't they leave some gleaning grapes? 6 How Esau will be ransacked! How his hidden treasures are sought out! 7 All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him." 8 "Won't I in that day," says Yahweh, "destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau? 9 Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter. 10 For the violence done to your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever. 11 In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them. 12 But don't look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don't rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don't speak proudly in the day of distress. 13 Don't enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don't look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity. 14 Don't stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don't deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress. 15 For the day of Yahweh is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head. 16 For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.