What Does Genesis 28:9 Mean?
Then Esau went to Ishmael, and took to himself, besides the wives he had, Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, son of Abraham, sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.THE KEY
In Hebrew, the verb for taking a wife shares its root with a word for instruction, so what enters a household can also teach it.
THE MEANING
When a choice displeases someone close to you, you may reach for another bond to answer the strain. Esau does this by taking Mahalath from Ishmael’s household, a line whose name means “God hears.” The verse names the bond and its family connection without telling whether it heals the strain.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקַּח
wayyiqqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
l-q-ḥ
To take, receive, or fetch; here, to take a wife.
וַיִּקַּח (wayyiqqaḥ, “and he took”) comes from לָקַח (lāqaḥ, “to take, receive”). The same root forms לֶקַח (leqaḥ, “instruction”), opening a connection between what is received into a household and what teaches the life that follows.
ALSO GROWS
leqaḥ: Instruction, teaching.
לֶקַח
This branch puts receiving and learning in one word family: what enters a household can shape what follows.
luqqaḥ: Was taken, was received.
לֻקַּח
The passive form keeps the person received in view alongside the one doing the taking.
יִשְׁמָעֵאל
Yishmaʿel
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed. Ishmael’s name joins “he will hear” with אֵל (ʾEl, “God”), carrying the sense “God hears.”
יִשְׁמָעֵאל (Yishmaʿel, “Ishmael”) combines יִשְׁמַע (yishmaʿ, “he will hear”) with אֵל (ʾEl, “God”). Esau’s chosen connection therefore enters a line whose very name holds hearing, though the verse leaves what is heard unstated.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen.
שָׁמַע
This verb supplies the hearing held in Ishmael’s name.
shemuʿah: A report, something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
The related word for a report shows hearing as something received and carried onward.
THE PATTERN
Marriage joins a person to a household and carries the relationship into a shared future.
And Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife. And when he went in to her, the LORD gave her to conceive, and she bore a son.And Joseph, raised from sleep, did as the messenger of the LORD had set before him, and took his wife to his side.THE THREAD
For I give you good to take; do not let go of my instruction.The verb וַיִּקַּח (wayyiqqaḥ, “and he took”) comes from לקח (lāqaḥ), the same root that forms לֶקַח (leqaḥ, “instruction”) in Proverbs 4:2. Hebrew places taking and learning in one word family, suggesting that what is received into a household can also teach the life built there.
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