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Now there was another famine in the land, subsequent to the one that had occurred in Abraham’s time. And Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
Berean Standard Bible · CC0
Hebrew — tap a word ↓
way·hî rā·‘āḇ bā·’ā·reṣ mil·lə·ḇaḏ hā·rā·‘āḇ hā·ri·šō·wn ’ă·šer hā·yāh ’aḇ·rā·hām bî·mê yiṣ·ḥāq way·yê·leḵ ’el- ʾă·ḇīm·mɛ·lɛḵ me·leḵ- pə·liš·tîm gə·rā·rāh
Word by word17 · parsed
√ hâyâh — to exist, iConjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
וַיְהִי — a wayyiqtol of hāyāh, “to be / come to pass.” Genesis hangs each new episode on this hinge; here it hangs a fresh trial. The chapter that begins “and it came to be” is governed by the One whose name is built from this same root, “I AM” (Exodus 3:14).
√ râʻâb — hunger (more or less extensive)Nounmasculine singular
רָעָב (rā·‘āḇ), “famine, hunger.” The same word that drove Abraham to Egypt (Genesis 12:10) and would later drive Jacob there (Genesis 43:1). Famine is Genesis’s recurring test of whether the patriarchs will cling to the land of promise or flee it.
√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-b, ArticleNounfeminine singular
√ bad — properly, separationPreposition-m, Preposition-lNounmasculine singular construct
√ râʻâb — hunger (more or less extensive)ArticleNounmasculine singular
הָרָעָב with the article — “the famine,” pointing back to a specific, remembered event. The narrator assumes the reader knows the Abraham cycle.
√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular
√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative
√ hâyâh — to exist, iVerbQalPerfectthird person masculine singular
√ ʼAbrâhâm — Abraham, the later name of AbramNounpropermasculine singular
אַבְרָהָם — Abraham named at once. The whole chapter is built on the father’s shadow: his famine, his Gerar, his Abimelech, his oath. Isaac walks a path already walked.
√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Preposition-bNounmasculine plural construct
√ Yitschâq — Jitschak (or Isaac), son of AbrahamNounpropermasculine singular
יִצְחָק (yiṣ·ḥāq), “he laughs / he will laugh,” from the laughter at his promised birth (Genesis 17:17; 18:12; 21:6). The son of laughter now faces the famine that tests the promise that produced him.
√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConsecutive imperfectthird person masculine singular
√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition
√ ʼĂbîymelek — Abimelek, the name of two Philistine kings and of two IsraelitesNounpropermasculine singular
אֲבִימֶּלֶךְ (ʼĂbîymelek), literally “my father is king.” Almost certainly not the Abimelech of Abraham’s day (some eighty years earlier) but, as Gill and the Pulpit Commentary urge, a successor bearing what was likely a dynastic throne-name, as Pharaoh was for Egypt.
√ melek — a kingNounmasculine singular construct
√ Pᵉlishtîy — a Pelishtite or inhabitant of PeleshethNounpropermasculine plural
פְּלִשְׁתִּים (Pᵉlishtîm), “Philistines.” The Cambridge editors note this title is, strictly, an anachronism here, the historian using a name well known on Israel’s south-west to identify the people of Gerar.
√ Gᵉrâr — Gerar, a Philistine cityNounproperfeminine singularthird person feminine singular