Biblical Hebrew · Tanakh Readers
ORIGINAL LANGUAGE FIRST
Pedagogical transliterationlekh lekha me-artsekha ... ve-e'esekha le-goy gadol
WHAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT
Genesis 12:1–3 is a complete opening speech unit. Verse 1 contains the imperative לֶךְ־לְךָ and three מִן phrases. Verses 2–3 then build a promise chain with first-person cohortative/imperfect forms. Keep the command, the destination clause, and the promised consequences distinct.
SEE HOW IT WORKS
BH-R01
Pedagogical reading guide
Biblical Hebrew
12:1 command + departure points + destination · 12:2 nation/blessing/name promises · 12:3 blessing and cursing clauses + families of the ground
EXAMPLES
Close translation — 12:1: ‘Hashem said to Abram: Go for yourself, from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.’ 12:2: ‘I will make you into a great nation; I will bless you; I will make your name great; and be a blessing.’ 12:3: ‘I will bless those who bless you, and the one who treats you lightly I will curse; and through you all the families of the ground shall be blessed.’
SOURCE REFERENCE
APPROVED STUDY LAYERS
Read a bounded Torah narrative by tracking divine speech, imperatives, cohortatives, suffixes, and the promise sequence.
OSHB independently tags לֶךְ as Qal imperative 2ms and the promise verbs as first-person forms with attached 2ms suffixes where present.
Find the imperative, the three departure phrases, four first-person promise forms, and every second-person suffix. Explain the shift from command to promise.
Imperative: לֶךְ־לְךָ. Departure phrases: מֵאַרְצְךָ, מִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ, מִבֵּית אָבִיךָ. Promise forms: וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ, וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ, וַאֲגַדְּלָה, וַאֲבָרְכָה. Verse 1 commands movement; verses 2–3 state divine consequences and promises.
MAM supplies the displayed pointing. וְנִבְרְכוּ has a debated semantic range (‘shall be blessed’ / ‘shall bless themselves’); the card gives a close contextual rendering and does not erase the interpretive question.
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