Shorashim, prefixes and endings taught one at a time, and then the whole parsha, word by word. For adults who can sound out Hebrew but were never taught how a Hebrew word is put together.
What this book is for, what it asks of you, and the one idea that makes Hebrew words stop looking like noise.
An honest account of the entry requirements.
By the end, you should be able to open a Chumash at Parshas Lech Lecha, look at a word you have never studied, take it apart into its pieces, and say out loud what each piece is doing there.
Most adults who want to learn Chumash are not starting from nothing. They can read Hebrew letters. They have heard the stories since childhood. They own a Chumash with a good English translation, and they can follow the narrative perfectly well.
What they cannot do is read the Hebrew and know what it says. The English is on the facing page, so the eye slides across to it, and the Hebrew stays a column of decorative shapes. Years pass. The translation gets read; the text does not.
This book is about closing that gap, and it takes a narrow, stubborn approach to it. It does not try to teach you Hebrew as a language. It teaches you to take Hebrew words apart. That is a much smaller skill, and it is the one that actually unlocks the page.
Here is the reason it works. Hebrew is not built the way English is. An English word is mostly a lump you memorise. A Hebrew word is assembled, in front of you, out of a small number of reusable parts: a three-letter root that carries the meaning, a handful of one-letter prefixes glued to the front, and a handful of endings glued to the back. Learn the parts, there are not many, and a word you have never seen before stops being unknown. It becomes a word you can disassemble.
You will not come out of this book fluent. You will come out able to look at וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ and say: that is and, plus from, plus a noun built on the root meaning to give birth, plus your, so, and from your birthplace. That is a real skill, it is permanent, and it transfers to every page of Chumash you will ever open.
It assumes one thing:
It assumes nothing else. In particular, not:
If you cannot yet sound out vowelled Hebrew, that is a different problem from the one this book solves, and a smaller one. It is a few weeks of work, taught constantly to adults, usually free: a beginners' reading course at a shul, a one-to-one learning partner, or a tutor for a handful of sessions. The alef-beis and the vowels are a finite body of material. Get that first, then come back.
There are three parts and a set of appendices.
Work Part Two before Part Three. Part Three is written on the assumption that the color coding, the six prefixes and the endings are already familiar to you; it will be slow going otherwise.
Where the text has the four-letter Name, this book prints ה׳ in its place. Your Chumash will have the Name itself written out, so the Hebrew on these pages will not match it letter for letter at those points, that is the one deliberate difference, and it is the only place where what you see here is not exactly what is in the sefer.
The reason is practical. A page carrying the Name may not simply be thrown out; it has to be put into geniza. This book is meant to be marked up, carried around, printed and reprinted, so it is set in a way that keeps that from becoming a problem. When you read the pasuk aloud, read the Name as you always would.
Every Hebrew word in this book is printed with the vowels and without the cantillation marks (te'amim), the small hooks and wedges above and below the letters that tell a reader how the verse is chanted. They belong to someone who is already reading fluently. While you are still working out which letter is doing what, they are extra marks competing with the vowels, so they are not here. Your own Chumash will have them: that is the one visible difference you will notice between this page and that one.
Answers in Appendix E.
The single biggest idea in the book, and the arithmetic that justifies it.
Take four words from the first pasuk of our parsha. They have nothing in common to the eye:
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵאַרְצְךָ | מֵ·אַרְצְ·ךָ | from + the earth + your | ארצ | 12:1 |
| וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ | וּ·מִ·מּוֹלַדְתְּ·ךָ | and + from + birthplace, kindred + your | ילד | 12:1 |
| וּמִבֵּית | וּ·מִ·בֵּית | and + from + house | בנה | 12:1 |
| אָבִיךָ | אָבִי·ךָ | father, parent + your | אָב | 12:1 |
Look at the fourth column. Each of those words is standing on a three-letter skeleton, and the skeleton is doing the work. The same three letters ילד carry the verb the dictionary glosses to give birth, which is why the noun built on them names the place you were born. The three letters בנה carry both the word for a house and the word for a son, glossed son, builder, because a son builds the family line. You are not memorising four unrelated words. You are recognising three skeletons and a few glued-on pieces.
That is the whole idea. Nearly every Hebrew word of substance is a shoresh (a root) of three letters, wearing a pattern of vowels, sometimes with a one-letter prefix in front and an ending behind. The root supplies the meaning. The vowels and the affixes supply the grammar: who did it, to whom, when, and whether the word is a verb, a noun or something else.
This would be a nice observation even if it were not efficient. It happens to be extremely efficient, and the numbers are worth seeing, because they explain why so little learning buys so much reading.
The three frequency tables in the appendices were compiled by counting every word in the whole Chumash. They say this:
Read the first line again. Under a hundred and twenty small words and prefixes, most of them one letter long, make up more than two fifths of the Chumash. They are in Appendix C. You could learn the first thirty of them this week.
The same shape shows up in miniature in the perek you are about to study. Counting every word of Bereishis 12 in the analysis this book is generated from:
Nothing in Perek 12 is exotic. The vocabulary of Avram's journey is the ordinary vocabulary of the Chumash: to say, to go, to see, to give, land, house, woman, name, son.
This is why the effort in this book is front-loaded. Part Two looks like a lot of small rules. It is really six prefixes, six endings, and one idea about roots. Once they are in place, they never need to be learned again, they simply keep paying, on every line of every parsha, for the rest of your life.
Answers in Appendix E.
Roots, then the six prefixes one at a time, then the endings one at a time, and only then the whole word.
What a root is, and how to see one.
A shoresh is a root: three consonants, in a fixed order, carrying a single area of meaning. It is written with the letters joined by a light connector, like ילד, to show that it is an abstraction, not a word you would ever pronounce as it stands. The last letter is always written in its ordinary form, never the final form, for the same reason.
The root never appears bare. It appears dressed: with vowels poured between its letters, and often with something glued to the front or the back. Different clothing, same skeleton.
The clearest way to see this is to take one root and watch it surface as different parts of speech in the same perek.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּמִבֵּית | וּ·מִ·בֵּית | and + from + house | בנה | 12:1 |
| בֶּן | בֶּן | son, builder | בנה | 12:4 |
| וַיִּבֶן | וַ·יִּבֶן | and + to build | בנה | 12:7 |
| בֵּית | בֵּית | house | בנה | 12:15 |
Four words, one shoresh: בנה. A house is a built thing. A son is a builder of the family line, that is not a poetic flourish, it is how the dictionary glosses the word: son, builder. And in pasuk 7 the same three letters are a verb, labeled Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular, and Avram builds an altar.
Some very common words are simply not built on three letters. A milah is a word in its own right: you learn it as it stands, from the dictionary, and there is nothing to take apart. This is the distinction the children's workbooks draw, and it is worth drawing, because hunting for a root that is not there wastes a great deal of time.
Five milim turn up in this perek: אָב, a father; אָח, a brother; שֵׁם, a name; יָם, a sea (and so also west); and שִׁבְעִים, seventy. None of them is three letters wearing vowels.
In this book the difference is marked on every breakdown in Part Three. A word either says shoresh, followed by three connected letters, or milah, followed by the dictionary word itself. If it says milah, stop looking for a root.
Pasuk 1 gives Avram three things to leave. The second of them is וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ. Take away the וּ (and), take away the מִ (from), take away the ךָ (your), and what is left stands on the shoresh ילד, the same three letters as the verb glossed to give birth. Your birthplace is where the giving-birth happened.
Here are some of the roots that do the most work in Bereishis 12, each shown through a real word from the text. You are not asked to memorise them. You are asked to notice that they are ordinary.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמֶר | וַ·יֹּאמֶר | and + to say | אמר | 12:1 |
| וַיֵּלֶךְ | וַ·יֵּלֶךְ | and + to walk, carry | ילכ | 12:4 |
| אַרְאֶךָּ | אַרְאֶ·ךָּ | to see + your | ראה | 12:1 |
| אֶתֵּן | אֶתֵּן | to give | נתנ | 12:7 |
| וַיִּקַּח | וַ·יִּקַּח | and + to take | לקח | 12:5 |
| וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ | וַ·אֲבָרֶכְ·ךָ | and + to bless + your | ברכ | 12:2 |
| אִשְׁתּוֹ | אִשְׁתּ·וֹ | woman + his/her/its | אשה | 12:5 |
| שְׁמֶךָ | שְׁמֶ·ךָ | name, honor + your | שֵׁם | 12:2 |
Do not go hunting for the root by counting letters. Go the other way round: learn to spot the prefixes and the endings, peel them off, and whatever is left is the root wearing its vowels. That is what the next three chapters train.
Answers in Appendix E.
Six single letters that attach to the front of a word. Learn what each one means before learning how to peel it off.
Six letters in Hebrew can be glued onto the front of a word. Each has its own meaning, and that meaning does not change. They are not decorations and they are not part of the root; they are words in their own right that happen to be written joined on.
In English these six ideas are separate words: and, the, to, in, from, like. In Hebrew they are single letters riding on the front of the next word. That is the only real difference.
This chapter takes them one at a time, in order of how often they turn up. For each, the meaning comes first; the examples are all real words from Bereishis 12. Counting every word of the perek, the six prefixes appear 122 times between them.
By far the commonest letter in the Chumash. It joins one thing to the next: and, and then, and so. In the appendix tables it is the single most frequent item in the whole Chumash at 11.09% of all words.
In a narrative it does most of the storytelling. Look down the left edge of almost any Chumash column and you will see verse after verse starting with it.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמֶר | וַ·יֹּאמֶר | and + to say | אמר | 12:1 |
| וַיֵּלֶךְ | וַ·יֵּלֶךְ | and + to walk, carry | ילכ | 12:4 |
| וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ | וַ·אֲבָרֶכְ·ךָ | and + to bless + your | ברכ | 12:2 |
| וַיֵּצְאוּ | וַ·יֵּצְאוּ | and + to go out, bring out | יצא | 12:5 |
| וַיֵּרֶד | וַ·יֵּרֶד | and + to go down | ירד | 12:10 |
Direction or benefit: to somewhere, for somebody. It is the third commonest word in the Chumash at 4.65%.
It also does a job English needs several words for. Put it in front of a verb and it makes an infinitive, to go, to come, to stay.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְךָ | לְ·ךָ | to / for + your | 12:1 | |
| לְגוֹי | לְ·גוֹי | to / for + foreign nation | גוי | 12:2 |
| לְזַרְעֲךָ | לְ·זַרְעֲ·ךָ | to / for + seed, plant, offspring + your | זרע | 12:7 |
| לָלֶכֶת | לָ·לֶכֶת | to / for + to walk, carry | ילכ | 12:5 |
| לָגוּר | לָ·גוּר | to / for + to sojourn, to stay as a guest | גור | 12:10 |
The definite article. Hebrew has no separate word for the; it has this letter, and it usually doubles the first letter of the word it lands on. 6.00% of the Chumash.
It matters more than it looks. In pasuk 1 Avram is sent to the land, a particular one, not any land, and the whole difficulty Rashi raises there hangs on it.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָאָרֶץ | הָ·אָרֶץ | the + the earth | ארצ | 12:1 |
| הַנֶּפֶשׁ | הַ·נֶּפֶשׁ | the + living creature | נפש | 12:5 |
| הַזֹּאת | הַ·זֹּאת | the + this one | 12:7 | |
| הָרָעָב | הָ·רָעָב | the + hunger | 12:10 | |
| הָאִשָּׁה | הָ·אִשָּׁה | the + woman | אשה | 12:14 |
Location or instrument: in a place, with a thing, by means of something. 3.13% of the Chumash.
Which of the three English senses is right depends on what follows, and you will usually feel it. In the land is a place; through you in pasuk 3 is the instrument sense.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְךָ | בְ·ךָ | in / with / by + your | 12:3 | |
| בָּאָרֶץ | בָּ·אָרֶץ | in / with / by + the earth | ארצ | 12:6 |
| בְּשֵׁם | בְּ·שֵׁם | in / with / by + name, honor | שֵׁם | 12:8 |
| בְּצֵאתוֹ | בְּ·צֵאת·וֹ | in / with / by + to go out, bring out + his/her/its | יצא | 12:4 |
| בְחָרָן | בְ·חָרָן | in / with / by + Charan | 12:5 |
Origin: from, out of. 1.31% of the Chumash as a prefix, and there is also a standalone word with the same meaning.
Pasuk 1 uses it three times in a row, and the repetition is the point: from your land, from your birthplace, from your father's house.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵאַרְצְךָ | מֵ·אַרְצְ·ךָ | from + the earth + your | ארצ | 12:1 |
| וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ | וּ·מִ·מּוֹלַדְתְּ·ךָ | and + from + birthplace, kindred + your | ילד | 12:1 |
| וּמִבֵּית | וּ·מִ·בֵּית | and + from + house | בנה | 12:1 |
| מֵחָרָן | מֵ·חָרָן | from + Charan | 12:4 | |
| מִשָּׁם | מִ·שָּׁם | from + then, there | 12:8 |
Comparison or timing: like, as. The rarest of the six, at 0.46% of the Chumash, but worth knowing because of the phrase it forms.
Glued to the relative word כַּאֲשֶׁר it gives as or just as, and in pasuk 4 that is exactly what carries the sentence: Avram went just as Hashem had spoken to him.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּאֲשֶׁר | כַּ·אֲשֶׁר | like / as + who, which, what, that, when, where, how | 12:4 | |
| כַּאֲשֶׁר | כַּ·אֲשֶׁר | like / as + who, which, what, that, when, where, how | 12:11 | |
| כְּבוֹא | כְּ·בוֹא | like / as + to bring to, give | בוא | 12:14 |
The vowel under a prefix moves around, sometimes a sheva, sometimes a patach, sometimes a kamatz, and in front of certain letters the prefix lengthens or the following letter doubles. Those shifts are real, and they are governed by rules, but they never change the meaning. For now: recognize the letter, take the meaning, and let the vowel do whatever it likes.
Answers in Appendix E.
Possessive endings, and one ending that means “toward”.
Hebrew glues things onto the back of a word as well as the front. The commonest are the possessive endings: little syllables meaning my, your, his, her, their. English needs a separate word for these. Hebrew does not.
So the English your land, two words, is one word in Hebrew: the noun for land, with the ending for your stuck on the end. The same ending can also attach to a preposition, which is how Hebrew says to you, with him, for her in a single word.
As with the prefixes: the meaning first. Here is each ending that appears in Bereishis 12, with its meaning and real examples. The endings appear 53 times in the perek.
Attached to a noun it means my; attached to a preposition it means me or to me.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֲחֹתִי | אֲחֹתִ·י | a sister + my | 12:13 | |
| נַפְשִׁי | נַפְשִׁ·י | living creature + my | נפש | 12:13 |
| לִי | לִ·י | to / for + my | 12:13 | |
| אֹתִי | אֹתִ·י | to + my | 12:12 | |
| לִּי | לִּ·י | to / for + my | 12:18 |
The ending addressed to one man. It is everywhere in pasuk 1, because the whole pasuk is Hashem speaking directly to Avram: your land, your birthplace, your father.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵאַרְצְךָ | מֵ·אַרְצְ·ךָ | from + the earth + your | ארצ | 12:1 |
| וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ | וּ·מִ·מּוֹלַדְתְּ·ךָ | and + from + birthplace, kindred + your | ילד | 12:1 |
| אָבִיךָ | אָבִי·ךָ | father, parent + your | אָב | 12:1 |
| שְׁמֶךָ | שְׁמֶ·ךָ | name, honor + your | שֵׁם | 12:2 |
| לְזַרְעֲךָ | לְ·זַרְעֲ·ךָ | to / for + seed, plant, offspring + your | זרע | 12:7 |
The same idea, addressed to one woman. It appears in pesukim 12 and 13, where Avram is speaking to Sarai.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֹתָךְ | אֹתָ·ךְ | to + your | 12:12 | |
| וְאֹתָךְ | וְ·אֹתָ·ךְ | and + to + your | 12:12 | |
| בַעֲבוּרֵךְ | בַ·עֲבוּרֵ·ךְ | in / with / by + crossed + your | עבר | 12:13 |
| בִּגְלָלֵךְ | בִּ·גְלָלֵ·ךְ | in / with / by + on account of + your | 12:13 |
The commonest ending in the perek. On a noun: his wife, his brother. On a preposition: with him, to him.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִשְׁתּוֹ | אִשְׁתּ·וֹ | woman + his/her/its | אשה | 12:5 |
| אָחִיו | אָחִי·ו | brother, sibling + his/her/its | אָח | 12:5 |
| אִתּוֹ | אִתּ·וֹ | with, by, at, among + his/her/its | 12:4 | |
| אֵלָיו | אֵלָי·ו | near, toward, among + his/her/its | 12:4 | |
| אָהֳלֹה | אָהֳלֹ·ה | tent + his/her/its | אהל | 12:8 |
Written with a hei, and marked with a dot inside it. It refers back to Sarai throughout pesukim 15 to 19.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֹתָהּ | אֹתָ·הּ | to + his/her/its | 12:15 | |
| בַּעֲבוּרָהּ | בַּ·עֲבוּרָ·הּ | in / with / by + crossed + his/her/its | עבר | 12:16 |
| אֹתָהּ | אֹתָ·הּ | to + his/her/its | 12:19 |
Rare in this perek, it appears exactly once, in the inventory of what Avram's household took out of Charan.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| רְכוּשָׁם | רְכוּשָׁ·ם | property + their | 12:5 |
Two endings you should know exist but will not meet here: the one meaning our does not appear anywhere in Parshas Lech Lecha, and the one meaning your addressed to a group appears only later in the parsha, not in this perek. The book does not invent examples it does not have; you will meet both soon enough in the text.
One more ending, and it is a different animal. A hei on the end of a place-name or a place-word does not mean her. It means toward, in the direction of. Hebrew has no preposition there at all, the direction is in the ending.
The classic example is in pasuk 5: Avram and his household set out אַרְצָה, toward the land of Canaan. The ending appears seven times in the perek, and once you know it, a whole set of journey-words becomes transparent.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְצָה | אַרְצָ·ה | the earth + toward | ארצ | 12:5 |
| הָהָרָה | הָ·הָרָ·ה | the + mountain range + toward | הרר | 12:8 |
| הַנֶּגְבָּה | הַ·נֶּגְבָּ·ה | the + the south + toward | 12:9 | |
| מִצְרַיְמָה | מִצְרַיְמָ·ה | Mitzrayim, Egypt + toward | 12:10 | |
| מִצְרָיְמָה | מִצְרָיְמָ·ה | Mitzrayim, Egypt + toward | 12:11 |
Notice how much this one ending does. Pasuk 10 does not say “he went down to Egypt” with a preposition for to; it says “he went down Egypt-ward” with the direction carried on the end of the name. The same thing happens in pasuk 9 with the south, and in pasuk 8 with the mountain.
Answers in Appendix E.
Prefix + root + suffix, worked slowly, on real words.
You now know the six prefixes and the endings. This chapter is the assembly instruction.
The procedure is always the same, and it runs from the outside in:
The longest word in pasuk 1, and the best possible demonstration, because it has all three kinds of piece at once.
Front: a vav, and. Underneath it a mem, from. Back: the ending for your (one man). What is left is a noun standing on the shoresh ילד, the letters of to give birth. Reassembled from the back: birthplace → your birthplace → from your birthplace → and from your birthplace. Four English words in one Hebrew word of four pieces.
Front: a beis, in. Back: the ending for his. The stem in the middle is a verb form, the data labels it Qal · infinitive construct, on the shoresh יצא, glossed to go out, bring out. Literally: in his going out; in English, when he left. Hebrew packs a whole subordinate clause into one word, and it does it constantly.
Front: a hei, the. Back: the directional hei, toward. In between, the word for the southern region. Three pieces, and the middle one is the only one you might not know.
Five words from the perek. Cover the right-hand columns, take each word apart on paper, then check yourself.
| Word | Its pieces | What the pieces mean | Shoresh / milah | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵאַרְצְךָ | מֵ·אַרְצְ·ךָ | from + the earth + your | ארצ | 12:1 |
| וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ | וַ·אֲבָרֶכְ·ךָ | and + to bless + your | ברכ | 12:2 |
| לְזַרְעֲךָ | לְ·זַרְעֲ·ךָ | to / for + seed, plant, offspring + your | זרע | 12:7 |
| הָהָרָה | הָ·הָרָ·ה | the + mountain range + toward | הרר | 12:8 |
| לָלֶכֶת | לָ·לֶכֶת | to / for + to walk, carry | ילכ | 12:5 |
Some words have no prefix and no ending at all, proper names, short particles, many verbs. When you peel and find nothing to peel, that is an answer, not a failure. Roughly 119 of the 268 words in this perek are bare stems.
Answers in Appendix E.
Why a three-letter shoresh sometimes shows up with only two letters visible.
Here is the first thing that will genuinely confuse you, so it is worth meeting on purpose rather than by accident.
Four Hebrew letters are unstable: yud, vav, nun and hei. When one of them sits in a shoresh, it sometimes vanishes from the written word altogether. The shoresh is still three letters. The word in front of you only shows two of them.
The very first command of the parsha is an example. לֶךְ is built on the shoresh ילכ. The yud is not there. It has not been mislaid, a yud at the front of a shoresh regularly drops when the verb is a command.
Every example below is a real word from Bereishis 12, and the shoresh in the third column is the one the data assigns to it. Read across: the word, then the letters you cannot see.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֶךְ | ילכ | Qal · imperative · 2nd masculine singular | to walk, carry | 12:1 |
| וַיֵּלֶךְ | ילכ | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to walk, carry | 12:4 |
| לָלֶכֶת | ילכ | Qal · infinitive construct | to walk, carry | 12:5 |
| בְּצֵאתוֹ | יצא | Qal · infinitive construct | to go out, bring out | 12:4 |
| וַיֵּרֶד | ירד | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to go down | 12:10 |
| וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ | ילד | noun · feminine · singular · construct state | birthplace, kindred | 12:1 |
Notice the last row. The yud has not simply gone, it has turned into a vav. That is the other thing weak letters do: they change into one another.
A nun at the front of a shoresh does not usually drop out of sight; it collapses into the next letter, which then carries a dagesh (the dot inside a letter) to show that something was absorbed.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶתֵּן | נתנ | Qal · imperfect · 1st common singular | to give | 12:7 |
| וַיִּסַּע | נסע | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to start a journey | 12:9 |
| וַיֵּט | נטה | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to stretch or spread out | 12:8 |
A hei in third position is the least stable letter in Hebrew. It disappears whenever anything is attached behind it, and often when nothing is.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְאֶךָּ | ראה | Hifil · imperfect · 1st common singular | to see | 12:1 |
| וַיִּבֶן | בנה | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to build | 12:7 |
| וּמִבֵּית | בנה | noun · masculine · singular · construct state | house | 12:1 |
| וַיְהִי | היה | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to be | 12:10 |
| וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ | עשה | Qal · imperfect · 1st common singular | to make | 12:2 |
A vav in the middle is usually swallowed by the vowel, which is why these verbs look so short.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָבוֹא | בוא | Qal · infinitive construct | to bring to, give | 12:11 |
| לָגוּר | גור | Qal · infinitive construct | to sojourn, to stay as a guest | 12:10 |
| וַיָּבֹאוּ | בוא | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine plural | to bring to, give | 12:5 |
You do not have to predict any of this. Nobody reading a Chumash sits there deriving forms. What you need is the opposite habit: when a word looks two letters short, do not conclude that you have never seen the shoresh before. Ask which of the four unstable letters is hiding, and the word usually turns out to be one you know.
One word in pasuk 8 does it twice over: וַיֵּט stands on the shoresh נטה, and both the nun and the hei have gone, leaving a single visible letter of the shoresh between the prefix and the vowel. That is as extreme as it gets, and it is still the ordinary verb for pitching a tent.
Answers in Appendix E.
The same three letters, poured into different molds.
A shoresh on its own is an idea, not a verb. To become a verb it has to be poured into a mold, a fixed pattern of vowels and occasional extra letters. Hebrew calls these molds binyanim, “buildings”. The mold decides not what the verb is about, but what kind of action it is: simple, intensified, or caused.
Four binyanim appear in Bereishis 12, and the perek happens to demonstrate the system with unusual clarity, because one shoresh, ראה, turns up in three different molds within seven pesukim.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִרְאוּ | ראה | Qal · imperfect · 3rd masculine plural | to see | 12:12 |
| אַרְאֶךָּ | ראה | Hifil · imperfect · 1st common singular | to see | 12:1 |
| וַיֵּרָא | ראה | Nifal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to see | 12:7 |
| הַנִּרְאֶה | ראה | Nifal · participle · masculine singular | to see | 12:7 |
Read those four rows slowly, because they are the whole chapter in miniature.
Same three letters throughout. The mold, not the shoresh, is what changed.
The default. Most verbs you meet are in it.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמֶר | אמר | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to say | 12:1 |
| וַיֵּלֶךְ | ילכ | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to walk, carry | 12:4 |
| וַיִּקַּח | לקח | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to take | 12:5 |
| יָדַעְתִּי | ידע | Qal · perfect · 1st common singular | to know | 12:11 |
| אֶתֵּן | נתנ | Qal · imperfect · 1st common singular | to give | 12:7 |
Marked by a dagesh in the middle letter of the shoresh. Often intensive, often simply the mold that a particular verb lives in.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ | ברכ | Piel · imperfect · 1st common singular | to bless | 12:2 |
| דִּבֶּר | דבר | Piel · perfect · 3rd masculine singular | to speak | 12:4 |
| וַיְצַו | צוה | Piel · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to order, command | 12:20 |
| וַיְנַגַּע | נגע | Piel · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to touch, strike | 12:17 |
| וַיְשַׁלְּחוּ | שלח | Piel · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine plural | to send away | 12:20 |
Usually marked by a hei in front. It turns an action into causing that action.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַרְאֶךָּ | ראה | Hifil · imperfect · 1st common singular | to see | 12:1 |
| הִקְרִיב | קרב | Hifil · perfect · 3rd masculine singular | to bring near | 12:11 |
| הִגַּדְתָּ | נגד | Hifil · perfect · 2nd masculine singular | to announce, expose | 12:18 |
| הֵיטִיב | יָטַב | Hifil · perfect · 3rd masculine singular | to go well | 12:16 |
Usually marked by a nun in front, though it hides in some forms.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֵּרָא | ראה | Nifal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to see | 12:7 |
| וְנִבְרְכוּ | ברכ | Nifal · perfect · 3rd common plural | to bless | 12:3 |
| הַנִּרְאֶה | ראה | Nifal · participle · masculine singular | to see | 12:7 |
There is a fifth label in this perek. Pasuk 15 has וַתֻּקַּח, which the data marks Qal passive · wayyiqtol · 3rd feminine singular: Sarai is not taking, she is being taken. It is a passive counterpart of the simple mold, rare enough that many grammars fold it into Nifal, and the narrative turns on it, the verse withholds any agent.
Hebrew verbs do not carry tense the way English verbs do. They carry aspect: whether an action is viewed as finished or unfinished. The data labels each verb with one of a handful of these, and the labels are worth learning because they appear under every verb in Part Three.
| Word | Shoresh / milah | What the data labels it | Meaning | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָדַעְתִּי | ידע | Qal · perfect · 1st common singular | to know | 12:11 |
| אֶתֵּן | נתנ | Qal · imperfect · 1st common singular | to give | 12:7 |
| וַיֹּאמֶר | אמר | Qal · wayyiqtol · 3rd masculine singular | to say | 12:1 |
| לֶךְ | ילכ | Qal · imperative · 2nd masculine singular | to walk, carry | 12:1 |
| לָלֶכֶת | ילכ | Qal · infinitive construct | to walk, carry | 12:5 |
| הָלוֹךְ | הלכ | Qal · infinitive absolute | to walk | 12:9 |
| מְבָרְכֶיךָ | ברכ | Piel · participle · masculine plural | to bless | 12:3 |
Pasuk 9 shows the infinitive absolute doing its most characteristic job. Two of them in a row, הָלוֹךְ and וְנָסוֹעַ, are what produces the English “journeyed, travelling steadily” the doubling is how Hebrew says kept on and on.
Answers in Appendix E.
All 126 pesukim, word by word. Everything Part Two taught you, applied to the text itself.
The shape of every pasuk in this part, and the method that makes it work.
Each pasuk gets the same things, in the same order.
Work each pasuk in this order: read the Hebrew aloud; try the first two or three words from the breakdown without looking at the translation; then read the translation; then go back and do the rest of the words. Reading the English first is the one habit that will stop this from working.
Where a word card says milah rather than shoresh, the word is not built on three letters and there is nothing to take apart, learn it as it stands. And a word with a small dash after it (אֶל־) is joined by a maqqef to the word that follows: the two are read as a single unit.
The call, the land, and the descent to Egypt
Hashem said to Avram, Go from your land, from your birthplace, and from your father’s house, [and go] to the land that I will show you.
The parsha opens in the middle of a sentence God is speaking. There is no introduction, no account of who Avram is or why he was chosen, only an instruction, and it is an instruction to leave. Notice that it narrows as it goes: your land, then your birthplace, then your father's house. Each step is more personal than the last. The destination is withheld entirely: not a named country, just the land that I will show you.
[Meaning:] “For your own benefit, for your own good. It is there that I will make you into a great nation, [whereas] here you will not merit having children. Also, I will make your character known to the world.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will make you into a great nation, I will bless you and make your name great; and you will be a blessing [and you will be blessed].
Three promises, offered as compensation for what pasuk 1 asked him to give up: descendants, blessing, and a name. The last clause turns the direction around, up to now Avram has been receiving; now he is to become a source.
I will bless those who bless you, and he who curses you, I will curse; and through you [and because of you], will be blessed all the families of the earth.
The promise widens past Avram and past his family. Whoever treats him well is treated well; whoever does not, is not. And the final clause reaches everybody: all the families of the earth are drawn into what has just been said.
There are many Aggadaic interpretations, but this is the simple meaning: A man says to his son, “May you be like Avraham.” This is the meaning every [time the expression] וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ [appears] in Tanach. The following [expression] proves this: “Through you shall [the People of] Israel bless, saying: May Elohim make you as Ephraim and Menasheh.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram went as Hashem had told him, and Lot went with him. Avram was seventy-five years old when he left Charan.
The response takes one word. There is no argument, no question, no request for detail, the text simply says he went. The two facts appended are the ones a reader would want: who came with him, and how old he was. Seventy-five is not a young man starting out.
Avram took his wife Sarai, Lot, his brother’s son, all their possessions they had acquired, and the souls [people] that they had made [converted] in Charan, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. They came to the land of Canaan.
An inventory of the household that left. Note the last item on the list: not property but people, the souls they had acquired in Charan. The pasuk then says twice that they set out for Canaan and arrived in Canaan, which is the kind of repetition that always repays attention.
[Meaning those souls] that he brought under the protective wings of the Divine Presence. Avraham would convert the men and Sarah would convert the women, and the verse considers them as if they had “made” them. But, the plain meaning of the verse is [that this refers to] the slaves and maidservants whom they acquired for themselves, as in the verse, “He acquired all this wealth” [or,] “And Israel acquires wealth,” meaning acquiring and amassing.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram passed [traveled] through the land until the place of Shechem, until the Plain of Moreh. The Canaanites were then in the land.
Arrival is not possession. He passes through the land, as far as Shechem, and the closing clause quietly notes who is living there already. The land he has just been promised belongs, at this moment, to somebody else.
He [the Canaanite] gradually conquered Eretz Yisrael from the descendants of Sheim. For it fell to the share of Sheim when Noach apportioned the land to his sons as it is said: “Malki Zedek King of Shaleim.” For this reason, “Hashem said to Avram, ‘to your descendants will I give this land,’” meaning, “In the future I will return it to your children who are descendants of Sheim.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Hashem appeared [became revealed] to Avram and said: To your descendants I will give this land. There he built an altar to [before] Hashem Who had appeared [been revealed] to him.
The first appearance, and with it the first specific promise of land, though not to Avram himself. It is promised to his descendants, which is a striking thing to say to a man who has none. His response is to build an altar.
From there he moved [ascended] to the mountain that was east of Beis-Eil and set up his tent. Beis-Eil was to the west and Ai was to the east. There he built an altar to [before] Hashem, and he proclaimed the Name, [and he prayed in the Name,] Hashem.
A second stop and a second altar. The geography is given with care, the mountain, Beis-Eil to the west, Ai to the east, and this time the altar is accompanied by proclaiming the Name. He is not only receiving; he is publishing.
It is written אהלה [her tent]. [The reason for this is because] he first pitched his wife’s tent and, afterwards, his own.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram journeyed, traveling steadily southward.
One short pasuk covering a long stretch of time. The Hebrew uses two bare verb forms side by side, and the effect is of continuous, unhurried movement southward.
At intervals. He would stay here a month or so, then travel and pitch his tent somewhere else. But, all his travels were southward [aimed at] going to the south of Eretz Yisrael, which is in the direction of Yerushalayim, which is in the territory of Yehudah, who took [his portion] in southern Eretz Yisrael to Mount Moriah which is his [Yehudah’s] possession.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
There was a famine in the land. Avram went down to Egypt to live there temporarily, for the famine was severe in the land.
The first test of the promise. He has been sent to this land, and the land cannot feed him. So he leaves it, temporarily, the pasuk is careful to say, and goes down to Egypt.
In that land only. [This was] in order to test him [Avram] whether he will question the words of God who had told him to go to the Land of Canaan and now is forcing him to leave it.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
As he came near and was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, Behold, I now realize that you are a woman of beautiful appearance.
The tone changes completely. For the first time Avram speaks, and what he says is fearful and practical. The verse is about a danger he can see coming as the border approaches.
The Aggadaic explanation is: Until now he had not been aware [of her beauty] due to the modesty of both of them. But, now, he became aware of her due to an event. Another explanation: It is usual that due to the hardship of travel a person becomes unattractive, but she had remained with her beauty. But, the simple explanation of this verse is, Behold I now realize [that] the time has come to be concerned over your beauty. I have known for a long time that you are beautiful. But, now we will be coming amongst black and repulsive people, brothers of the Kushim, who are not accustomed to [seeing] a beautiful woman. An example similar to this: “See now my lords, please turn.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
It will happen when the Egyptians see you that they will say: This is his wife. They will kill me and let you live.
He spells out the reasoning. The danger is not to her but to him: a husband is an obstacle in a way that a brother is not.
Please [Now] say [therefore] that you are my sister, so that it will go well with me for your sake, and my life will be spared because of you [through your words].
The request itself, and he gives two reasons, that it will go well for him, and that he will survive. It is worth sitting with how uncomfortable this pasuk is; the text does not soften it.
And it was when Avram was entering Egypt, that the Egyptians beheld the woman, because she was very beautiful.
What he feared happens at once. The Egyptians see her the moment he enters.
It should have said, “When they came to Egypt.” But, this teaches that he hid her in a box and when they demanded the customs taxes they opened it and saw her.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh. The woman was taken to Pharaoh’s house.
It escalates past anything he had planned for. Pharaoh's officials see her, report her, and she is taken, the Hebrew verb is passive, and no one is named as doing the taking.
He treated Avram well for her sake. He thus acquired sheep, oxen, donkeys, male and female slaves, female donkeys and camels.
The bargain Avram half-anticipated in pasuk 13 comes true in the worst possible way. He is treated well, and the list of what he receives is long and specific, and the reason given is for her sake.
Hashem afflicted Pharaoh with severe plagues [brought severe plagues upon Pharaoh], and also his household, because of Sarai, Avram’s wife.
The resolution comes from outside the story Avram set in motion. Neither Avram nor Sarai acts; Pharaoh and his household are struck, and the pasuk names the reason plainly.
[Meaning:] according to her words, she tells the angel, “Strike [him]!” and he strikes [him].
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Pharaoh summoned Avram and said: What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she is your wife?
Pharaoh's rebuke, in three questions, and the moral advantage in this exchange is entirely his. The narrative records the reproach without answering it.
Why did you say, She is my sister, so that I should take her to myself for a wife? Now here is your wife, take [her] and go.
The second half of the rebuke, ending in a dismissal. Take her and go, two imperatives, no courtesy, no offer to stay.
Pharaoh assigned men to him and they escorted him and his wife and all that was his.
The episode closes with an escort to the border. Avram leaves Egypt with his wife and everything that was his; the chapter ends where it began, with a man on a road.
Avram and Lot separate
Avram went up from Egypt; he, his wife, and all that he had, together with Lot into the south.
Avram comes back up the same road he went down, and the Torah lists the household again, him, his wife, everything he owns, and Lot. The list is almost word for word the one in 12:5, except that now it is a return rather than a departure.
[Meaning:] to arrive at the south of Eretz Yisrael, as it was stated above, “traveling steadily southward,” [meaning:] to Mount Moriah. Nevertheless, when one travels from Egypt to the Land of Canaan, he travels from south to north, for Egypt is south of Eretz Yisrael as can be shown by the “journeys” and at the boundaries of Eretz Yisrael.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram was very wealthy in livestock, silver and gold.
One short pasuk of accounting. The wealth he left Egypt with is stated flatly, without praise or unease, and it is the fact that drives everything in this perek: what follows happens because there is now too much to share.
[I.e.,] he was laden with baggage.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He continued on his travels from the south to Beis-Eil, until the place where he originally had [set up] his tent, between Beis-Eil and Ai.
He does not settle where he landed. He retraces his route in stages, back to the exact spot between Beis-Eil and Ai where he had pitched his tent before Egypt, returning to where he was interrupted rather than starting somewhere new.
[This indicates] that when he returned from Egypt to the Land of Canaan he went and lodged in those inns in which he had lodged on his way to Egypt. This teaches that good manners [require] that a person not change his place of lodging. Another explanation: On his return trip he paid the debts he incurred.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
To the site of the altar which he made there at first; and there Avram called [prayed] in the Name of Hashem.
And specifically to the altar. The point of retracing the journey was to come back to the place where he had called in the Name of Hashem, in 12:8. The famine broke off something, and he is resuming it.
And where “Avram called in the Name of Hashem.” It can also be taken to mean, that “He now called there in the Name of Hashem.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Lot who accompanied Avram also had sheep, cattle and tents.
Lot's wealth gets its own pasuk. Until now Lot has appeared only as part of Avram's household; here he has flocks and tents of his own. He has become a separate establishment, which is the first sign of what is coming.
What brought this about? The fact that he traveled with Avram.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The land was unable to support them that they might dwell together, for their wealth was so great that they were unable to dwell together.
The reason given is not bad character but arithmetic: the land could not carry both of them. The pasuk says it twice, they could not dwell together, their wealth was too great, they could not dwell together, closing off any other explanation.
[Meaning] It could not provide [enough] pasture for their cattle. The phrase is abbreviated and an additional [word] is needed: “The pasture of the land could not support them.” The text, therefore, reads וְלֹא נָשָׂא in the masculine form.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
There was a quarrel between the herdsmen of Avram’s flocks and the herdsmen of Lot’s flocks. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were then living in the land.
The quarrel is between the herdsmen, not the two men. And the pasuk immediately notes who else is in the land: the Canaanite and the Perizzite were there. A dispute between Avram's people and Lot's is taking place in front of an audience.
Because Lot’s shepherds were wicked and grazed their animals in others’ fields. [When] Avram’s shepherds admonished them for [committing] robbery, they responded: “The land was given to Avram who has no heir. Lot, his nephew, is his heir and, [therefore,] this does not constitute robbery.” But, the verse states: “The Canaanites and Perizzites were then living in the land,” so that Avram did not yet possess it.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram said to Lot: Please [Now], let there not be strife between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.
Avram speaks first and gives up his position before any argument develops. Note what he appeals to, not who is right, and not his seniority, but that they are kinsmen. He asks for no ruling on the quarrel at all.
[Here meaning:] relatives. The Midrashic explanation is: they had similar facial features.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Is not all the land before you? Please [Now] separate from me, if [you go] to the left [north], I [will go] to the right [south], and if [you go] to the right [south], I [will go] to the left [north].
He offers Lot the whole choice and takes whatever is left. "If you go left, I go right; if you go right, I go left." The man who was promised this land is the one who lets the other pick first.
[Meaning:] wherever you may settle I will not go far from you and I will stand by you [to serve] as a shield and as a help. In the end he, indeed, needed him as it is said, “When Avram heard that his kinsman was taken captive.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Lot raised his eyes and saw the entire Jordan Plain, that it was [an] abundantly watered [place]; before Hashem destroyed Sedom and Amorah, it was like Hashem’s garden, like the land of Egypt, going towards Zoar.
Lot looks, and the Torah shows us what he saw: well-watered land, like Hashem's garden, like Egypt. Then it adds the detail he could not have seen, this was before Sedom was destroyed. The reader is told how the choice ends before Lot makes it.
A land of water streams.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Lot chose for himself the entire Jordan Plain; Lot journeyed from the east [before], and they separated one from another.
He takes the whole plain, and the two separate. The wording is deliberately mutual, "a man from his brother", rather than Lot being sent away.
[Means] “plain” as the Targum translates.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram lived in the land of Canaan; and Lot lived in the cities of the Plain, setting up his tents as far as Sedom.
The two settlements are set side by side: Avram in the land of Canaan, Lot in the cities of the plain. The last clause moves him further, he pitched his tents as far as Sedom.
[Meaning:] he pitched tents for his shepherds and for his cattle as far as Sedom.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The people of Sedom were wicked [with their property] and sinful [with their bodies] towards [before] Hashem, exceedingly.
Having told us where Lot settled, the Torah tells us what kind of place it was. The verdict is unqualified and is placed immediately after his choice, with no comment connecting the two.
And yet Lot did not refrain from residing with them. Our Sages learned from here: “The names of the wicked shall rot.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Hashem said to Avram after Lot had separated from him: Raise your eyes and look about from the place where you are, to the north, to the south to the east and to the west.
Hashem speaks the moment Lot is gone, "after Lot had separated from him." Avram is told to raise his eyes and look, the same verb used of Lot in pasuk 10, but in all four directions rather than at one attractive plain.
As long as the wicked person was with him, the Word [of God] withdrew from him. (And above when Lot was [still] with him and [yet] it is written: “And God appeared to Avram,” [we must assume that] at that time he [Lot] was [still righteous]).
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
For all the land that you see I give to you and to your descendants forever.
The promise is enlarged. In 12:7 the land was for his descendants; here it is to you and to your descendants, and forever. He has just given away first choice of land, and is told that all of what he can see is his.
I will make your descendants [numerous] as the dust of the earth; so that if a man can count the dust of the earth, then your descendants too will be countable [just as it is impossible for a man to count the dust of the earth, so too your descendants will not be countable].
The image is dust, not stars, not sand, but the thing he is standing on and being promised. The pasuk defines its own comparison: if a man could count the dust, your descendants could be counted too.
Just as it is impossible for dust to be counted so, too, your progeny will not be counted.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Rise, walk through the land, its length and breadth, for to you I will give it.
He is told to walk the land, its length and its breadth. Not to take it or settle it, to go through it, as an act that acknowledges the gift.
Avram set up his tent, and he came and settled in the Plains of Mamrei which are in Chevron, and he built there an altar to [before] Hashem.
The perek ends as it began, with a move and an altar. He settles at Mamrei in Chevron and builds there, the third altar in two perakim, each one marking where he stopped.
The name of a person.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The war of the kings, and Malki-Tzedek
This happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar [Babylon], Aryoch, king of Elasar, Kedorlaomer, king of Ailam, and Tidal, king of Goyim [king of peoples].
The parsha suddenly changes register. Four kings are named with their kingdoms, in the manner of a chronicle, and Avram is not mentioned at all. This is the only war narrative in Lech Lecha, and it opens as though from an outside record.
He is Nimrod who told Avraham, “Jump into the fiery furnace.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
They waged war against Bera, king of Sedom, Birsha, king of Amorah, Shinav, king of Admah, Shemeiver, king of Tzevoyim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.
Five more kings, named against the first four. The cities will matter later, Sedom and Amorah are on this list, and so is the city Lot has just moved toward.
He was evil towards God and evil towards mankind.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
All these joined together [assembled] at the valley of Siddim [the plain of the fields], which is [now] [the place of] the Salt Sea.
All five allied at the Valley of Siddim. The pasuk pauses to tell the reader what that place is now: the Salt Sea. The landscape of the story no longer exists.
It was so called because of the many fields that were in it. There are many [other] Midrashic interpretations.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
[For] twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, and for thirteen years they rebelled.
The cause of the war in one line of bookkeeping: twelve years of service, and in the thirteenth they rebelled. No motive is offered beyond the arithmetic.
These five kings [served] Kedorlaomer.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer came together with the kings that were with him and they defeated the Rephaim [the mighty ones] in Ashteros Karnayim, the Zuzim [the powerful ones] in Ham, the Aimim [the ones that incite fear] at Shaveh Kiryasayim,
The fourteenth year, and the campaign begins, but not against the rebels. Kedorlaomer sweeps through a list of other peoples first, each named with the place he defeated them.
Of their rebellion.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And the Chorites in their hills of Seir, as far as Eil [the Plain of] Paran which borders [is next to] the wilderness.
The sweep continues south and west, as far as the edge of the wilderness. Four pesukim of conquest before the actual quarrel is reached.
[Meaning] in their mountain.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
They turned back and came to Ein Mishpat [the plain of compromise] which is Kadeish [Rekem], and they struck all the territory of Amaleik, as well as the Emorites who lived in Chazazon Tamar [Ein Gedi].
They turn back and strike Amalek's territory and the Emorites. The campaign has been a wide arc, and only now does it close on the cities that rebelled.
It was so called on account [of the events] of the future. For Moshe and Aharon were destined to be judged there concerning the events of that fountain, which were the waters of Merivah. Onkelos, however, translates it plainly, [i.e.,] “The place where the citizens of the country would gather for all judgments.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The king of Sedom set out, along with the king of Amorah, the king of Admah, the king of Tzevoyim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar, and engaged them in battle in the Valley of Siddim [in the plain of the fields].
The five kings come out to meet them. The Valley of Siddim, named in pasuk 3, is now the battlefield.
Against Kedorlaomer, king of Eilam, Sidal, king of Goyim [king of peoples], Amraphel, king of Shinar [Babylon], and Aryoch, king of Elasar; [there were] four kings against the five.
The pasuk counts it for us: four kings against five. The smaller force is the one that has just marched through everyone else.
Yet, the fewer ones were victorious. [This is] to inform you that they were powerful and, yet, Avraham did not refrain from giving chase to them.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The Valley of Siddim [The plain of the fields] was [full of] mortar pits [pits from which they raise up mortar]; [and when] the Kings of Sedom and Amorah fled they fell there [into the pits], while the remainder fled to the mountains.
The terrain decides it. The valley was full of mortar pits; the kings of Sedom and Amorah fell into them in flight, and the rest escaped to the hills.
There were many pits from which earth was taken for mortar. The Midrashic explanation is, that the mortar was mixed in them and it was through a miracle that the King of Sedom escaped from there. For among the nations there were some who did not believe that Avraham was saved from Ur Kasdim, from the fiery furnace. But, once he [the king of Sedom] escaped from the mortar, they believed [the event concerning] Avraham retroactively.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
They took [captured] all the wealth of Sedom and Amorah and all their provisions and they went on their way.
The victors take everything from Sedom and Amorah and leave. As far as this pasuk is concerned the episode is over, it reads like the end of the account.
They took [captured] Lot and his wealth. [Lot was] Avram’s nephew. Then they went on their way. He had been living in Sedom.
And then one more item: they took Lot. The pasuk identifies him as Avram's nephew and explains, almost in an aside, that he had been living in Sedom. The war becomes Avram's business in a single clause.
[This is to teach:] what caused this to happen to him? [The fact] that he resided in Sedom.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The one who had escaped came and told Avram the Ivri, who was living in the Plains of Mamrei the Emorite, the brother of Eshkol and Aneir. They were Avram’s allies.
A survivor brings the news. Avram is called ha-Ivri here for the first time, and his allies are named, Mamrei, Eshkol and Aneir, the men whose plains he settled in at the end of the last perek.
According to the plain meaning, this refers to Og who escaped from the war. This is what is referred to in Tanach “For only Og was left from the remnant of the Rephaim.” This is the meaning of “was left,” that Amrophel and his company did not kill him when they smote the Rephaim in Ashteros Karnayim. [This is based on Midrash] Tanchuma. [However,] the Midrash Ber. Rab. [explains:] This refers to Og who escaped from the Generation of the Flood. And that is [the meaning of:] מִיֶּתֶר הָרְפָאִים as is written, “The giants were upon the land, etc.” It was his [Og’s] intention that Avram be killed so that he might marry Sarah.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
When Avram heard that his kinsman was taken captive, he armed his trained servants [lads] who were born in his household, three hundred and eighteen [men], and he pursued [them] until Dan.
He hears that his kinsman is captive and moves immediately. The number is exact, three hundred and eighteen men of his own household, and he pursues as far as Dan. Nothing is said about weighing the risk.
As the Targum translates: “And he armed.” Similarly: וַהֲרִיקוֹתִי אַחֲרֵיכֶם חָרֶב [is translated by Onkelos:] “I will arm myself with a sword against you.” Similarly: אָרִיק חַרְבִּי [“I will arm myself with sword”]. “Similarly:” Arm yourself with sword and ax.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He divided [his men] against them at night, he and his servants and he attacked them. He pursued them until Chovah, which is to the left [north] of Damascus.
He splits his force and attacks at night, and pursues past Damascus. Four verbs in one pasuk, with no description of the fighting itself.
According to its plain meaning the verse should be inverted [as if to read:] “He divided himself, he and his servants, against them, at night,” in the manner of pursuers who chase after those who are fleeing who run in different directions.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He brought back all the property. His kinsman [His brother’s son] Lot and his possessions he also brought back, as well as the women and the people.
The recovery is listed in the order that matters to the story: all the property, and Lot, and Lot's possessions, and the women and the people. Everything taken in pesukim 11 and 12 comes back.
The King of Sedom went out to meet him after his return from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, to the Valley of Shaveh which is the King’s Valley [to the barren plain, which is the place of the racetrack of the king].
The king of Sedom comes out to meet him. The man who fled into a pit is now coming to meet the man who recovered his city's wealth.
That is its name as the Targum explains לְמֵיֹשַר מַפְנָא [the barren plain], empty of trees and from all impediments.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Malki Zedek, king of Shaleim [Yerushalayim], brought out bread and wine. He was a Kohein of [He was serving before] the Most High Almighty.
Malki-Tzedek interrupts the meeting. He is king of Shaleim and a kohen to the Most High, and he brings out bread and wine. He arrives without introduction and leaves without explanation.
The Midrash Aggadah [explains] that he is Sheim, the son of Noach.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He blessed him and said: Blessed be Avram to the Most High, Almighty Possessor of heaven and earth.
He blesses Avram first, and calls God Possessor of heaven and earth, the same claim to the land that the promises have been making.
[The meaning is] the same as “Maker of heaven and earth.” Through His having made them He acquired them to be His.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And blessed be the Most High Almighty Who has delivered your enemies into your hand. [Avram] gave him a tenth of everything.
Then he blesses God for the victory, putting the win in its place. Avram answers by giving him a tenth of everything, without being asked.
[Meaning] “who has delivered,” as in “[How] can I deliver you, Israel?”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The King of Sedom said to Avram: Give me the people, and take the possessions for yourself.
The king of Sedom finally makes his offer: give me the people, keep the goods. It is a reasonable proposal, and it would leave Avram rich.
[Meaning:] of all my things that were captured that you rescued, return only the people to me.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram said to the King of Sedom: I have lifted my hand [in prayer] to [before] Hashem [before] the Most High Almighty, Possessor of heaven and earth.
Avram refuses before the sentence is finished, and grounds the refusal in an oath he has already sworn, using Malki-Tzedek's own phrase, Possessor of heaven and earth.
This is an expression of an oath: “I lift my hand to God, Most High.” Similarly: בִּי נִשְׁבַּעְתִּי [means,] “I swear.” Similarly: נָתַתִּי כֶּסֶף הַשָּׂדֶה קַח מִמֶּנִּי, [means:] “I am giving you the price of the field, take it from me.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Neither a thread nor a shoelace! And I will not take anything of yours, so you will not [be able] to say, I have made Avram wealthy.
Not a thread, not a shoelace. The reason is precise and about reputation: so that you cannot say, I made Avram rich. He was made wealthy in Egypt and will not be made wealthy here.
Will I retain for myself from the spoils.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I am excluding myself; only what the lads have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me, Aneir, Eshkol and Mamrei, they may take their portion.
He excludes himself only, not his men: what the young men ate, and the share of Aneir, Eshkol and Mamrei. His allies are not bound by his refusal, and he does not impose it on them.
[Meaning:] my servants who went with me. In addition, “Aneir, Eshkol, and Mamrei, etc. Though it was my servants who took part in the war,” as it is said, “He and his servants smote them,” and, Aneir and his friends [only] stayed with the supplies to guard it, nevertheless, they will get their share. From him [Avram], Dovid learned a lesson when he said, “As the share of the participant in battle and as the share of the one that remains with the supplies, they will share together.” It is therefore said, “This was so from that day [and had been so] from earlier times and he [Dovid] made it an ordinance and a law.” It does not state and on, because the law had already been given in the days of Avram.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The covenant between the pieces
After these events, the word of Hashem came to Avram in a vision, saying: Fear not Avram, I am your shield [My Word is your strength], your reward is very great.
A new scene, marked as a vision. The opening words answer something Avram has not said aloud: fear not. He has just refused a fortune and made enemies of four kings, and the reassurance comes before any request of his.
Wherever אַחַר is used it signifies immediately [after]. [When] אַחֲרֵי [is used] [it means] long afterwards. [Thus, immediately] “after these events,” [i.e.,] after this miracle occurred to him that he killed the kings, he became anxious and said, “Maybe I have already received my reward for all my righteousness.” Therefore, God said to him… Fear not Avram, I am your shield. From punishment. [I.e.,] that you will not be punished for all the people that you killed. And as for you anxiety that you have already received you reward, “Your reward is very great.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram said: My Master, God, what will You give me since I continue to be childless, and the manager of my household [this supplier who is in my house] is Eliezer of Damascus.
Avram answers a promise of reward by asking what any of it is worth: he has no child, and his steward stands to inherit. It is the first time he questions anything he has been told.
Menachem ben Saruk explains it [עֲרִירִי] as meaning “heir,” comparable to עֵר וְעוֹנֶה. עֲרִירִי [would then mean] without an heir as you would say “It will תְשָׁרֵשׁ all my crops,” meaning, “it will tear up its roots.” Similarly עֲרִירִי means childless, in Old French desanfantez. [However,] it seems to me that עֵר וְעוֹנֶה is of the same derivation as וְלִבִּי עֵר, [meaning, “my heart is awake”], whereas וַעֲרִירִי means “destruction” as in “Destroy it, destroy it,” and as in “Destroying the foundation,” and as in “Shall be completely destroyed,” and as in “For the cedar will be destroyed.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And Avram said: Behold, You have not given me children, and thus one of my household will be my heir.
He says it again, plainly, in case the point was missed, You have given me no offspring, so a member of my household inherits. The repetition is the weight of the complaint.
And what benefit [is there] from all that you shall give to me?
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Suddenly the word of Hashem came to him, saying: That one will not be your heir; only he that will come from within your body [a son that you will beget] will be your heir.
The answer is immediate and specific. Not that one; one who comes from your own body. The vagueness of descendants in the earlier promises is narrowed to a son.
He [then] took him outside and said: Look towards the heavens and count the stars if you are able to count them. He then said to him: So [numerous] will your descendants be.
He is taken outside and told to count the stars. In 13:16 the comparison was dust, underfoot; here it is stars, overhead, and again the pasuk sets the terms, if you can count them.
According to the plain meaning: He took him from his tent, outside, to see the stars. However, according to its Midrash, He said to him, “Leave your astrological calculations that you have seen in the constellations that you are not destined to have a son. It is Avram who will have no son, but Avraham will have a son. Similarly, it is Sarai who will not give birth, but Sarah will give birth. By My calling you by a [different] name [your] destiny will change. An alternate explanation: He took him out of the terrestrial void and lifted him above the stars. This explains the use of the term הַבֶּט [which signifies looking] from above to below.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He believed in [the Word of] Hashem, and this He accounted to him for righteousness.
One of the shortest pesukim in the parsha and among the most quoted: he believed, and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Nothing happens in it. It records only a state of mind.
[Meaning:] he did not ask of Him a sign concerning this. Whereas, concerning the inheritance of the land he asked Him for a sign and said to Him, “With what [sign] will I know?”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He said to him: I am Hashem who brought you out of Ur Kasdim, to give to you this land as an inheritance.
The subject changes from offspring to land, and God identifies Himself by what He has already done, who brought you out of Ur Kasdim, before stating what He will do.
And he said: My Master, God, how will I know that I will inherit it?
Avram asks again: how shall I know? He has just been described as believing; here he asks for something to go on. The text lets both stand without reconciling them.
He said to him: Bring Me [Sacrifice before Me] three heifers, three goats and three rams, a dove, and a young pigeon.
The answer is not an argument but an instruction: three animals, each three years old, and two birds. No explanation is given for the list.
Three heifers are a symbol for the three bulls: 1) the bull offered on Yom Kippur; 2) the bull [offered] when the law is “hidden” from the people; and 3) the heifer whose neck was broken.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He brought [sacrificed] all these to [before] Him; he split them in the middle [into two equal parts], and placed each piece opposite the other. The bird, however, he did not split.
He divides each animal and sets the halves facing each other, and does not divide the birds. The pasuk records the exception without saying why.
[Meaning:] he divided each into two parts. The verse does not exclude its literal meaning, since He was establishing a covenant with him that He would keep His promise to give possession of the land to his descendants, as is written: “On that day, Hashem made a covenant with Avram, saying,” etc. And it is customary for the parties to a covenant to divide an animal and to pass through between its parts, as it is said: “Who passed through between the parts of the calf,” here, too, the smoking furnace and the flaming torch which passed through between the pieces was the representative of the Divine Presence which is referred to as “fire.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Birds of prey [vultures] descended upon the carcasses, but Avram drove them away.
Birds of prey come down on the carcasses and Avram drives them off. A single concrete detail in the middle of a vision, and he is the one who acts.
It is the name of a bird so called because it swoops and is greedy for the carcasses to fly quickly upon its food as in, “And you swooped upon the spoils.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
As the sun was setting, a deep sleep fell upon Avram; and behold, a dread of deep darkness fell upon him.
Sunset, a deep sleep, and a dread of great darkness. The vocabulary shifts from what he does to what falls on him.
Symbolizing the oppression and darkness of the exiles.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And He [Hashem] said to Avram: Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs. They will enslave them and oppress them [for] four hundred years.
The covenant opens with exile, not with land: your descendants will be strangers in a land not theirs, enslaved and oppressed, four hundred years. He asked how he would know he would inherit, and is told first what it will cost.
[The time] from Yitzchok’s birth until Israel left Egypt was four hundred years. How is this so? Yitzchok was 60 years old at Yaakov’s birth and when Yaakov descended to Egypt, he said, “The years of my temporary residence are one hundred and thirty years,” making a total of 190. They were in Egypt 210 [years], the numerical value of רְדוּ, making a total of 400 years. If you might suggest that they were in Egypt 400 [years], [this could not be so] because Kehos was of those who descended to Egypt. If you calculate the [total] years of Kehos, Amram and the eighty years of Moshe when [the Israelites] left Egypt, you will find only [a total of] 350. And you must still subtract from that all the years that Kehos lived after Amram’s birth and that Amram lived after Moshe’s birth.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
But also that nation whom they will serve I will judge; afterwards they will leave with great wealth.
Then the turn, the nation they serve will be judged, and they will come out with great wealth. The shape of the Egypt story is given here, generations before it happens.
[The word] וְגַם [but also] includes the Four Kingdoms that will also perish because they enslaved Israel.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
You will join your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
A word for Avram himself, set between the two halves: he will not see any of it. He will go to his fathers in peace and be buried in good old age.
And will, therefore, not witness all this.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The fourth generation will return here, for the sin of the Emorites will not be complete until then [now].
The fourth generation returns, and the delay is explained by something outside Israel entirely, the sin of the Emorite is not yet complete. The timing is not arbitrary.
[I.e.,] after they will have been exiled to Egypt they will remain there for three generations, and the fourth will return to this land. Because it was in the Land of Canaan that He spoke with him and established this covenant as is written: “To give you this land as an inheritance.” And so it was: Yaakov descended to Egypt. Now, go and count his generations. 1) Yehudah, 2) Peretz, 3) Chetzron and 4) Calev son of Chetzron [who was] of those who entered the Land.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The sun set and it became very dark; and behold, a smoking furnace and a flaming torch had passed between these pieces.
Now it is fully dark, and a smoking furnace and a flaming torch pass between the pieces. Avram does not pass between them. Only the fire does.
This is similar to וַיְהִי הֵם מְרִיקִים שַׂקֵּיהֶם. וַיְהִי הֵם קוֹבְרִים אִישׁ, meaning: and this thing happened.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
On that day Hashem made a covenant with Avram, saying: To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt as far as the great river, the Euphrates.
The covenant is stated as already done, I have given this land, and for the first time it is given borders, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates.
A promise from God is considered as if it has already happened.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
[The lands of] the Kenites [Shalmites], Kenizites, Kadmonites,
The land is then itemised by its peoples rather than its geography. The first three are named here.
Ten nations are listed here, [yet] He gave to them only [the land] of Seven Nations. The three [whose lands were not given], Edom, Moav, and Ammon which are [referred to here as]: Keini, Knizi, and Kadmoni are destined to be possessed in the future, as it is said: “They will overpower Edom and Moav and the Ammonites will obey them.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The Chittites, Perizites, the Refa’im [the mighty ones],
The list continues. Naming who is there now is also naming what the promise has to displace.
[Refers to] the Land of Og [King of Bashan] about which it is said: “That [Bashan] is called the land of the Repha’im.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The Emorites, Canaanites Girgashites and Yevusites.
Ten peoples in all, ending with the Yevusite. The perek that began with a childless man asking what he would be given ends with a bounded, populated land.
Hagar and the birth of Yishmael
Avram’s wife Sarai had not borne him children. She had an Egyptian handmaid whose name was Hagar.
The perek opens on the unresolved problem: Sarai has borne no children. The second half of the pasuk introduces the person through whom the next events happen, an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar.
She was Pharaoh’s daughter. When he [Pharaoh] saw the miracles that were performed for Sarah, he said: “Better that my daughter be a servant-maid in this house rather than the mistress of another house.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Sarai said to Avram: See now, Hashem has restrained me from having children; pray [now], come to my handmaid perhaps I will be built-up through her. Avram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.
Sarai reads her childlessness as coming from God, and proposes a solution. The closing clause is stated without comment: Avram listened to the voice of Sarai.
This teaches that a person with no children is not considered “built-up” but, rather, “demolished” [i.e., not established].
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Sarai, the wife of Avram took Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of ten years that Avram had lived in the Land of Canaan and gave her to Avram her husband to be his wife.
The Torah dates it, ten years in the land of Canaan, and repeats everyone's status in full: Sarai wife of Avram, Hagar the Egyptian her maidservant, given to Avram her husband as a wife. Every relationship in the sentence is about to be strained.
[Meaning:] she took her with [kind] words: “How fortunate you are that you are privileged to cleave to as holy a body as this.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He came to Hagar and she conceived. When she realized that she was pregnant, her mistress became slighted in her eyes.
She conceives, and the thing that was supposed to solve the problem creates a new one: her mistress became light in her eyes. Nothing is said about what Hagar did.
From the first marital union.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Sarai said to Avram: The insult against me is your fault [I have a judgment against you]. I gave my maid to you and when she saw that she had conceived, I became slighted in her eyes. Let Hashem judge between me and you.
Sarai holds Avram responsible and puts it in the language of a legal claim. She retells the events of pesukim 2 to 4 as she experienced them, and asks God to judge between them.
[Meaning:] for the wrong that had been done to me I call for you to be punished. [For] when you prayed to God: “What will You give me since I continue to be childless?” you prayed only for yourself. You should have prayed for us both and I would have been remembered along with you. Furthermore: “You have unrightfully withheld your words from me for you have heard my shame and remained silent.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram said to Sarai: [The fate of] your maid is in your hands, do with her as you see fit. Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she [Hagar] ran away from her.
Avram hands the matter back: she is in your hand, do as you see fit. Sarai afflicts her, and Hagar runs. The pasuk states each action flatly, and assigns blame to no one.
She made her work hard.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
An angel of Hashem found her by a spring of water in the desert, at the spring on the road to Shur [Chagar].
An angel finds her, the first appearance of an angel in the Torah, at a spring in the wilderness, on the road back toward Egypt. She is going home.
And he said: Hagar, handmaid of Sarai, from where have you come and where are you going? She said: I am running away from my mistress, Sarai.
She is addressed by her position, Hagar maidservant of Sarai, and asked where she has come from and where she is going. She answers only the first half.
From where have you come? [Meaning:] “From where have you come?” [Actually] he [the angel] knew. It was only to give her an opening, to enter into conversation with her. The expression אֵי מִזֶּה [means:] Where is the place about which you can say, “From this [place] I have come.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The angel of Hashem said to her: Return to your mistress and submit yourself to her.
The instruction is hard: go back, and submit. No promise softens it, and nothing is said about Sarai's conduct.
For each statement [of these three verses] a different angel was sent to her. Therefore, “angel” is used for each and every statement.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
The angel of Hashem said to her: I will greatly multiply your descendants that they can not be counted because of their great number.
Then the promise, descendants too numerous to count. The same blessing given to Avram is given to a runaway maidservant, in nearly the same words.
The angel of Hashem said to her: Behold you will conceive, and give birth to a son. You shall name him Yishmael, for Hashem has heard [accepted] your prayer.
She is told she is carrying a son and given his name, and the name is explained: Hashem has heard your affliction. Yishmael means precisely that.
[Meaning: “When you return you will conceive,” as in: “Behold you will conceive,” referring to Monoach’s wife.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
He will be a wild, uncivilized man [rebel against people]. His hand [will be] against everyone [He will need everyone] and everyone’s hand will be against him [and everyone’s hand will need him]; and in the presence of all his brothers he will dwell.
The description is unflinching and not obviously a blessing, a wild man, his hand against all and every hand against him, and it ends with him dwelling in the presence of all his brothers.
One who loves the wilderness to hunt wild animals, as is written [concerning Yishmael]: “He settled in the wilderness of Paran [where] he became an expert archer.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
She called [She prayed in] the Name Hashem Who had spoken to her: [She said] You are Almighty Who sees [everything], for she said: Have I also seen here [a vestige] after my having seen? [Have I also began to see here [a vestige] after it was revealed to me?]
She names God, the only person in the Torah to do so. The name she gives Him is about sight: the God who sees.
[The word רֳאִי] is punctuated with a chataf kometz because it is a noun, [i.e.,] a God of seeing, because He sees the humiliation of the humiliated.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Therefore the well was called: Be’er Lachai Ro’i [the well at which a living angel appeared]; it is between Kadeish [Rekem] and Bared [Chagar].
The well keeps the name, and the Torah locates it. What happened to her is fixed to a place on the map.
As he [Onkelos] translates: “A well that a living angel appeared upon it.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Hagar bore Avram a son and Avram named his son, that Hagar bore him, Yishmael.
Hagar bears the son, and Avram gives him the name, the name the angel gave her. He was not present for that conversation.
Though Avram did not hear the words of the angel who said, “And call his name Yishmael,” yet, the spirit of prophecy rested upon him and he called him Yishmael.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Yishmael to Avram.
A dated endnote: Avram was eighty-six. It closes the perek the way business is closed, and sets up the gap of thirteen years before the next one opens.
This is written in praise of Yishmael, to let us know that he was thirteen years old when he was circumcised and did not oppose it.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Circumcision, and the new names
When Avram was ninety-nine years old, Hashem appeared [became revealed] to Avram and said to him: I am Almighty Shaddai, walk [worship] before Me and be perfect.
Thirteen silent years have passed. Avram is ninety-nine, and the address is a demand rather than a promise: walk before Me and be whole.
[Meaning:] “I am the One Whose Godliness suffices for every creature. Therefore, walk before Me and I will be your God and Protector.” Similarly, wherever it appears in Tanach its explanation is thus: “He is sufficient.” However, it also depends on the context.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will give My covenant between Me [My Word] and you, and I will multiply you[r descendants] exceedingly.
The covenant is announced before its terms. Note the order across this perek, the covenant is given, then named, then its sign is commanded.
[This refers to] the covenant of love and the covenant for you to possess the land by [your fulfilling] this precept.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avram fell on his face. Elohim spoke with him, saying:
He falls on his face, and only then does God speak further. The gesture interrupts the speech rather than following it.
From fear of the Divine Presence. Because prior to being circumcised he did not have the strength to stand while the Divine Presence stood over him. It is [to this reference] that it is stated concerning Bilam, “Fallen down and eyes open.” I found this in the Beraisa of R. Eliezer.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
As for Me, here is My covenant with you; you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.
“As for Me”, God states His side first. Avram is to be the father of a multitude of nations, which is more than the great nation promised in 12:2.
No longer shall your name be called Avram, but your name shall be Avraham, for the father of a multitude of nations I have appointed you.
The name changes, and the pasuk explains it: av hamon goyim, father of a multitude of nations, is folded into Avraham. The book has used the name Avram for five perakim; from here on it cannot.
This is an acrostic of his name. The letter רי"ש which was originally in [his name] signifying that he was a father only to Aram which was his [original] country, whereas, now he was a father to the entire world and even the letter רי"ש, originally in his name, was, [nevertheless], not removed from its place. For even the letter יו"ד of Sarai’s name had complained to the Divine Presence until it was added to Yehoshua’s name as it is said: “Moshe called Hoshea bin Nun [by the name] Yehoshua.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make you into nations [assemblies]; and kings [who rule over nations] will descend from you.
Fruitful, nations, kings. The promise keeps widening, from descendants, to peoples, to rulers.
[Referring to:] Israel and Edom. For he had already had Yishmael and He would not be revealing tidings concerning him.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will sustain My covenant between Me [My Word] and you, and between your descendants after you throughout their generations as an eternal covenant, to be a God to you, and to your descendants after you.
The covenant is defined as eternal and generational, and its content is stated: to be a God to you and to your descendants after you. The land has not yet been mentioned.
And what is this covenant? To be a God to you.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your temporary residence, all the land of Canaan as an eternal possession, and I will be a God to them.
Now the land, and with a sharp phrase: the land of your sojournings, the place he has lived in as a stranger, given as an eternal holding.
It is there that I will be a God to you. But, one who resides outside Eretz Yisrael is like someone who has no God.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Elohim said to Avraham: And as for you, you must preserve My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
The turn to Avraham's side of it: and as for you. Until this pasuk everything has been what God will do.
The letter וי"ו [וְאַתָּה] here [denotes] a continuation of the previous matter: [i.e.] “As for Me, here is My covenant with you,” and you take heed to keep it. And by what means shall it be kept? “This is My covenant which you must preserve, … you shall be circumcised.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
This is My covenant which you must preserve between Me [My Word] and you, and your descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised.
The obligation, stated in one line: every male among you shall be circumcised. For a covenant this large, the requirement is remarkably small and entirely physical.
[Referring to:] those who are now alive.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin. This shall be the sign of the covenant between Me [My Word] and you.
And it is called a sign, the mark is not the covenant itself but the evidence of it.
[וּנְמַלְתֶּם] has the same meaning as וּמַלְתֶּם and the letter נו"ן is an addition that periodically appears in it, as the letter נו"ן in נוֹשֵׁךְ and the letter נו"ן in נוֹשֵׂא. וּנְמַלְתֶּם has the same form as וּנְשָׂאתֶם But, the word יִמוֹל is the form יִפָּעֵל, as in יֵעָשֶׂה [shall be done], [or] יֵאָכֵל [shall be eaten].
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
At the age of eight days every male among you must be circumcised, throughout your generations; he that is a house-born [slave] or one that was bought with money from any stranger who is not your descendant.
The details: eight days old, every generation, and explicitly including those born in the household and those bought, not only the bloodline.
[Meaning:] to whom a maidservant gave birth in [your] house.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Your house-born slaves must be circumcised, and also those bought with your money. This shall be My covenant in your flesh as an eternal covenant.
The inclusion is repeated for emphasis, and the covenant is located in the body: My covenant in your flesh.
Here [the circumcision of יְלִיד בַּיִת] is repeated and it does not say, “On the eighth day” [as in v. 12], in order to teach you that there is a יְלִיד בַּיִת that is circumcised after eight days as is explained in Meseches Shabbos.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
An uncircumcised male, who will not circumcise his foreskin, that soul [man] shall be cut off from its people; he has broken [changed] My covenant.
The consequence of refusal, stated once and without elaboration: that soul is cut off, for he has broken My covenant.
Here it teaches that circumcision [is performed] in that place where there is a distinction between male and female.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And Elohim said to Avraham [As for] Sarai your wife, do not call her by the name Sarai, for Sarah is her name.
Sarai's name changes too, in the same form of words. She is not present for this, and the change is announced to Avraham.
שָׂרַי implies “my princess” but not to others. But, her name will be Sarah, in a general sense for she will be a princess [שָׂרָה] to everyone.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
I will bless her, and I will also give you a son through her. I will bless her, and she will be [a mother] of nations [assemblies], kings of peoples [who rule over nations] will descend from her.
And then what has never been said before: a son from her. The blessings given to Avraham in pasuk 6, nations, kings, are repeated over Sarah almost word for word.
What is this blessing? It is that she reverted to her youthfulness, as it is said: “Now that I am worn out, shall I have the pleasure [of a son].”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avraham fell on his face and laughed [rejoiced]. He said in his heart: Can a hundred year old man have children? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old give birth?
Avraham falls on his face again, and this time laughs, and does the arithmetic in his heart: a hundred, and ninety. The Torah records the thought without judging it.
This one [the word וַיִּצְחָק] Onkelos translates, happiness and rejoicing, whereas [the word וַתִּצְחַק] concerning Sarah he interprets as laughter. You may learn [from this] that Avraham believed [the prophecy] and rejoiced but Sarah did not believe, and ridiculed. That is why God was angry with Sarah but was not angry with Avraham.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And Avraham said to [before] Elohim: May it be granted that Yishmael live before You.
His spoken answer is not about Sarah at all. It is a request for the son he already has: may Yishmael live before You.
If only Yishmael might live. [Meaning:] “I am unworthy to receive such a reward.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Elohim said: Indeed, your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will name him Yitzchok. I will establish My covenant with him as an eternal covenant to his descendants after him.
The reply corrects him without dismissing him, Sarah will bear a son, and he is named Yitzchak, from the laughter of pasuk 17. The covenant will run through him.
An expression of affirmation. Similarly: “Truly, we are sinners.” [Or] “Truly, she has no son.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And as for Yishmael, I have heard you [I have accepted your prayer]. I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful, and will increase him exceedingly. He will become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
And Yishmael is answered too. He is blessed, made fruitful, promised twelve princes and a great nation. Everything is given him except the covenant.
[A reference to the fact] they will dissipate like clouds, as in: “Clouds [נְשִׂיאִים] and wind.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
But I will establish My covenant with Yitzchok, who Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.
The distinction is made explicit, and dated: this covenant, with Yitzchak, at this season next year.
And when He finished speaking with him, [the Glory of] Elohim ascended from Avraham.
The conversation ends the way it began, abruptly. God finished speaking and went up from Avraham.
This is a more fitting expression when referring to the Divine Presence and we also learn that the righteous are the vehicles of God [’s Presence].
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avraham took his son, Yishmael, and all those that were born in his household, and all that he had bought with his money, every male member of Avraham’s household, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on that very day as Elohim had said to him.
No interval, no discussion. On that very day he circumcises Yishmael and every male of his household, the whole household, exactly as he was told in pesukim 12 and 13.
On the same day that he was commanded, by day and not by night. He was not afraid of the idolaters or of the scoffers. And so that his enemies and contemporaries not claim: “Had we seen him we would not have let him do the circumcision and fulfill God’s precept.”
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
His own age at it, stated plainly: ninety-nine.
In the בְּהִפָּעֲלוֹ form the same [form] as בְּהִבָּרְאָם, “when they were created.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
And his son Yishmael was thirteen years old when he circumcised the flesh of his foreskin.
And Yishmael's: thirteen. The two ages are given separately, in their own pesukim.
Concerning Avraham it does not state אֵת, because he only lacked cutting the flesh, for [the membrane] had already dissolved. But, Yishmael who was a lad required [actual] cutting the foreskin and tearing open the corona membrane. Therefore, concerning him אֵת is said.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
On that very day Avraham and his son Yishmael were circumcised.
The pasuk says it once more, on that very day, putting father and son in the same clause.
[On the day] that Avraham turned ninety-nine and Yishmael thirteen years, Avraham and his son Yishmael were circumcised.
Metsudah Rashi Chumash, 2009 · CC BY.
All the men of his household, those born in his household, and bought with money from a stranger, were circumcised with him.
The parsha closes on the household: everyone born in it and everyone bought into it, circumcised with him. It ends where it began in 12:5, with the whole household moving together.
What that actually amounts to.
The frequency tables the method rests on, a glossary, and the answers to the review questions.
Ranked by frequency, with counts from the whole Chumash.
The meaning column here is the gloss of the dictionary headword that each group is keyed to, and it is a rough label for the group, not a definition of any particular word. It can mislead: the group containing the word for a tent is keyed to a headword glossed “to become clear”. Always take a word's meaning from the word itself, which is what every breakdown in Part Three does.
| # | Hebrew | Meaning | Count | % of Chumash | First seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **בנה** | to construct buildings | 2,083 | 1.68% | Gen.3.16 |
| 2 | **כלל** | to complete | 1,608 | 1.30% | Gen.1.21 |
| 3 | **אמר** | to say | 1,417 | 1.14% | Gen.1.3 |
| 4 | **היה** | to be, become | 1,049 | 0.85% | Gen.1.2 |
| 5 | **עשה** | to do or make | 925 | 0.75% | Gen.1.7 |
| 6 | **ארצ** | the land | 849 | 0.68% | Gen.1.1 |
| 7 | **דבר** | to speak | 784 | 0.63% | Gen.8.15 |
| 8 | **פנה** | to turn, face | 726 | 0.58% | Gen.1.2 |
| 9 | **עממ** | to gather together | 697 | 0.56% | Gen.11.6 |
| 10 | **יומ** | day | 679 | 0.55% | Gen.1.5 |
| 11 | **נתנ** | to give, put | 649 | 0.52% | Gen.1.17 |
| 12 | **בוא** | to bring, to come | 640 | 0.52% | Gen.2.19 |
| 13 | **איש** | a man, male person | 571 | 0.46% | Gen.2.23 |
| 14 | **שנה** | to repeat, duplicate | 441 | 0.36% | Gen.1.14 |
| 15 | **ראה** | to see, observe | 429 | 0.35% | Gen.1.4 |
| 16 | **אב** | father, parent | 417 | 0.34% | Gen.2.24 |
| 17 | **לקח** | to take | 402 | 0.32% | Gen.2.15 |
| 18 | **אחד** | to unite, collect | 399 | 0.32% | Gen.1.5 |
| 19 | **קרב** | to bring near | 397 | 0.32% | Gen.12.11 |
| 20 | **יד** | hand | 382 | 0.31% | Gen.3.22 |
| 21 | **עבד** | to work, serve | 377 | 0.30% | Gen.9.25 |
| 22 | **אכל** | to eat | 362 | 0.29% | Gen.2.16 |
| 23 | **יצא** | to go out, come out | 358 | 0.29% | Gen.1.12 |
| 24 | **קדש** | to declare holy | 351 | 0.28% | Exod.3.5 |
| 25 | **מות** | to die | 332 | 0.27% | Gen.2.17 |
| 26 | **שנימ** | two, double | 329 | 0.27% | Gen.1.16 |
| 27 | **כהנ** | to serve as priest | 320 | 0.26% | Gen.14.18 |
| 28 | **צוה** | to command | 316 | 0.25% | Gen.2.16 |
| 29 | **זבח** | to sacrifice an animal | 311 | 0.25% | Gen.8.20 |
| 30 | **אשה** | woman | 307 | 0.25% | Gen.2.22 |
| 31 | **קומ** | to stand up | 298 | 0.24% | Gen.4.8 |
| 32 | **אח** | brother, sibling | 291 | 0.23% | Gen.4.2 |
| 33 | **ילד** | to give birth | 287 | 0.23% | Gen.3.16 |
| 34 | **שבע** | to swear by repeating seven times | 274 | 0.22% | Gen.4.24 |
| 35 | **נשא** | to lift, carry | 264 | 0.21% | Gen.4.13 |
| 36 | **שמ** | name, honor, authority | 253 | 0.20% | Gen.2.11 |
| 37 | **שמע** | to hear attentively | 251 | 0.20% | Gen.3.8 |
| 38 | **עינ** | eye, fountain | 234 | 0.19% | Gen.3.5 |
| 39 | **חטא** | to err, to sin | 234 | 0.19% | Gen.4.7 |
| 40 | **ישב** | to sit, dwell, remain | 230 | 0.19% | Gen.4.16 |
| 41 | **ילכ** | to walk, carry | 229 | 0.18% | Gen.3.14 |
| 42 | **שלח** | to send away, out | 229 | 0.18% | Gen.3.22 |
| 43 | **חיה** | to live, revive | 223 | 0.18% | Gen.1.20 |
| 44 | **אדמ** | to turn red | 222 | 0.18% | Gen.1.26 |
| 45 | **ראש** | head, beginning | 220 | 0.18% | Gen.2.10 |
| 46 | **אהל** | to become clear | 216 | 0.17% | Gen.4.20 |
| 47 | **קרא** | to call out, name | 214 | 0.17% | Gen.1.5 |
| 48 | **מימ** | water | 207 | 0.17% | Gen.1.2 |
| 49 | **נפש** | to breathe, refresh | 207 | 0.17% | Gen.1.20 |
| 50 | **עבר** | to cross over | 200 | 0.16% | Gen.8.1 |
| 51 | **טמא** | to be unclean | 200 | 0.16% | Gen.34.5 |
| 52 | **נטה** | to stretch out, bend away | 196 | 0.16% | Gen.38.18 |
| 53 | **מאה** | a hundred | 194 | 0.16% | Gen.5.3 |
| 54 | **חנה** | to set up camp | 191 | 0.15% | Gen.32.3 |
| 55 | **שפה** | to wear away | 187 | 0.15% | Gen.8.19 |
| 56 | **ידע** | to know, to understand | 185 | 0.15% | Gen.3.5 |
| 57 | **בקר** | to inspect, care for | 181 | 0.15% | Gen.12.16 |
| 58 | **שוב** | to turn back | 181 | 0.15% | Gen.3.19 |
| 59 | **עשר** | to give a tenth | 178 | 0.14% | Gen.6.3 |
| 60 | **עור** | to wake someone up | 177 | 0.14% | Gen.4.17 |
| 61 | **יעד** | to set, appoint | 173 | 0.14% | Gen.1.14 |
| 62 | **ברכ** | to bless, to kneel | 171 | 0.14% | Gen.1.22 |
| 63 | **אלפ** | to teach, to learn | 171 | 0.14% | Gen.20.16 |
| 64 | **דממ** | to be silent, stop | 168 | 0.14% | Gen.4.10 |
| 65 | **שמר** | to protect, guard | 160 | 0.13% | Gen.2.15 |
| 66 | **חמש** | five | 157 | 0.13% | Gen.5.6 |
| 67 | **שמנ** | to make oily | 157 | 0.13% | Gen.28.18 |
| 68 | **הרר** | mountain | 153 | 0.12% | Gen.7.19 |
| 69 | **שומ** | to place | 152 | 0.12% | Gen.2.8 |
| 70 | **זרע** | to plant seeds | 149 | 0.12% | Gen.1.11 |
| 71 | **כלה** | to complete, prepare | 149 | 0.12% | Gen.24.53 |
| 72 | **שלוש** | three | 148 | 0.12% | Gen.5.22 |
| 73 | **כספ** | to become pale, fear | 148 | 0.12% | Gen.13.2 |
| 74 | **אדונ** | to control | 146 | 0.12% | Gen.18.3 |
| 75 | **פקד** | to oversee, care for | 144 | 0.12% | Gen.21.1 |
| 76 | **זהב** | gold, yellow | 143 | 0.12% | Gen.2.11 |
| 77 | **שכנ** | to live in | 143 | 0.12% | Exod.25.9 |
| 78 | **לחמ** | to eat, to battle | 139 | 0.11% | Gen.3.19 |
| 79 | **בשר** | to announce good news | 138 | 0.11% | Gen.2.21 |
| 80 | **אמ** | mother | 138 | 0.11% | Gen.6.15 |
| 81 | **תוכ** | center | 135 | 0.11% | Gen.1.6 |
| 82 | **נחל** | to receive, to own | 133 | 0.11% | Gen.31.14 |
| 83 | **גדל** | to make large | 132 | 0.11% | Gen.1.16 |
| 84 | **נסע** | to start a journey | 132 | 0.11% | Gen.11.2 |
| 85 | **עמד** | to stand | 132 | 0.11% | Gen.18.8 |
| 86 | **מלכ** | to rule, to reign | 128 | 0.10% | Gen.14.1 |
| 87 | **זכר** | to remember, to mention, male | 127 | 0.10% | Gen.1.27 |
| 88 | **רבע** | to be square | 125 | 0.10% | Gen.2.10 |
| 89 | **פאה** | to blow away | 125 | 0.10% | Gen.4.11 |
| 90 | **טהר** | to be pure | 124 | 0.10% | Gen.7.2 |
| 91 | **אול** | powerful, strong | 124 | 0.10% | Gen.15.9 |
| 92 | **ירש** | to take over by driving out | 124 | 0.10% | Gen.15.3 |
| 93 | **מצא** | to find, to appear | 122 | 0.10% | Gen.2.20 |
| 94 | **דרכ** | to walk, tread | 122 | 0.10% | Gen.3.24 |
| 95 | **נגע** | to touch, strike, reach | 121 | 0.10% | Gen.12.17 |
| 96 | **רעע** | to make bad | 120 | 0.10% | Gen.2.9 |
| 97 | **שדה** | open space | 118 | 0.10% | Gen.2.5 |
| 98 | **כפר** | to cover, to forgive | 118 | 0.10% | Gen.6.14 |
| 99 | **צאנ** | flock of sheep or goats | 116 | 0.09% | Gen.4.2 |
| 100 | **שלמ** | to make complete, to offer peace sacrifices | 116 | 0.09% | Exod.20.24 |
| 101 | **גור** | to stay as a guest | 114 | 0.09% | Gen.15.13 |
| 102 | **שפט** | to judge, sentence | 114 | 0.09% | Gen.18.19 |
| 103 | **בגד** | to hide, to trick | 114 | 0.09% | Gen.24.53 |
| 104 | **מלא** | to fill or become full | 113 | 0.09% | Gen.1.22 |
| 105 | **מנחה** | to offer, to bring as a gift | 113 | 0.09% | Gen.4.3 |
| 106 | **עדה** | a group, assembly | 110 | 0.09% | Exod.12.3 |
| 107 | **עצה** | to close, to shut | 109 | 0.09% | Gen.1.11 |
| 108 | **עשר** | ten, tenth | 109 | 0.09% | Gen.5.8 |
| 109 | **קנה** | to buy, to own | 107 | 0.09% | Gen.4.20 |
| 110 | **נכה** | to strike | 107 | 0.09% | Gen.4.15 |
| 111 | **פתח** | to open, begin | 106 | 0.09% | Gen.4.7 |
| 112 | **פרר** | to violate, frustrate | 106 | 0.09% | Gen.32.16 |
| 113 | **אש** | fire | 105 | 0.08% | Gen.15.17 |
| 114 | **מלאכ** | messenger | 104 | 0.08% | Gen.2.2 |
| 115 | **בדד** | to be alone | 104 | 0.08% | Gen.2.18 |
| 116 | **בהמה** | large animal | 103 | 0.08% | Gen.1.24 |
| 117 | **קול** | voice, sound | 102 | 0.08% | Gen.3.8 |
| 118 | **שמימ** | the sky above | 100 | 0.08% | Gen.1.1 |
| 119 | **ערב** | to become dusky | 99 | 0.08% | Gen.1.5 |
| 120 | **שבעימ** | seventy days | 99 | 0.08% | Gen.2.2 |
| 121 | **טוב** | to make good | 98 | 0.08% | Gen.1.4 |
| 122 | **צבא** | to gather an army | 96 | 0.08% | Gen.2.1 |
| 123 | **חדש** | to renew, rebuild | 94 | 0.08% | Gen.7.11 |
| 124 | **לוה** | to unite, to remain | 94 | 0.08% | Exod.4.14 |
| 125 | **קטר** | to produce fragrance by burning | 93 | 0.07% | Exod.25.6 |
| 126 | **ירא** | to fear, reverence | 92 | 0.07% | Gen.3.10 |
| 127 | **ספר** | to count, record numbers | 92 | 0.07% | Gen.34.30 |
| 128 | **עור** | to expose | 91 | 0.07% | Gen.3.21 |
| 129 | **גוי** | foreign nation, Gentile | 91 | 0.07% | Gen.10.5 |
| 130 | **רומ** | to raise, rise | 90 | 0.07% | Gen.7.17 |
| 131 | **אבנ** | stone | 89 | 0.07% | Gen.2.12 |
| 132 | **שכב** | to lie down | 89 | 0.07% | Gen.19.4 |
| 133 | **סבב** | to surround, border | 88 | 0.07% | Gen.23.17 |
| 134 | **בכר** | to give the firstborn rights | 88 | 0.07% | Gen.10.15 |
| 135 | **ירד** | to go down | 88 | 0.07% | Gen.11.5 |
| 136 | **ימ** | large body of water | 87 | 0.07% | Gen.1.10 |
| 137 | **חלב** | rich part | 87 | 0.07% | Gen.4.4 |
| 138 | **כבש** | ram, lamb | 87 | 0.07% | Exod.12.5 |
| 139 | **רוח** | to smell, perceive | 86 | 0.07% | Gen.8.21 |
| 140 | **רבב** | to increase in number | 86 | 0.07% | Gen.6.5 |
| 141 | **הלכ** | to walk | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.2.14 |
| 142 | **רעה** | to tend sheep | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.11.3 |
| 143 | **עלמ** | to conceal | 83 | 0.07% | Gen.3.22 |
| 144 | **שש** | six, ordinal sixth | 82 | 0.07% | Gen.7.6 |
| 145 | **ברה** | to make clear | 82 | 0.07% | Gen.6.18 |
| 146 | **שקל** | to weigh, to balance | 82 | 0.07% | Gen.23.15 |
| 147 | **כבד** | to be heavy, burdensome | 80 | 0.06% | Gen.31.1 |
| 148 | **רבה** | to increase | 78 | 0.06% | Gen.1.22 |
| 149 | **שבת** | to stop working | 77 | 0.06% | Exod.16.23 |
| 150 | **לול** | spiral staircase | 76 | 0.06% | Gen.1.5 |
| 151 | **חלל** | to pierce, begin with opening | 76 | 0.06% | Gen.4.26 |
| 152 | **שער** | to storm, fear | 76 | 0.06% | Gen.27.11 |
| 153 | **כסה** | to cover, to conceal | 74 | 0.06% | Gen.7.19 |
| 154 | **ירה** | to teach, to throw | 74 | 0.06% | Gen.26.5 |
| 155 | **נגד** | to announce, to expose | 72 | 0.06% | Gen.3.11 |
| 156 | **חמשימ** | fifty | 72 | 0.06% | Gen.6.15 |
| 157 | **רגל** | to walk, to travel | 71 | 0.06% | Gen.8.9 |
| 158 | **כרת** | to cut, divide, make a covenant | 71 | 0.06% | Gen.9.11 |
| 159 | **זקנ** | to grow old | 70 | 0.06% | Gen.18.11 |
| 160 | **תממ** | to make whole | 69 | 0.06% | Gen.6.9 |
| 161 | **שלושימ** | thirty | 68 | 0.05% | Gen.5.3 |
| 162 | **לב** | heart, feelings | 67 | 0.05% | Gen.6.5 |
| 163 | **עזז** | to be strong | 66 | 0.05% | Gen.15.9 |
| 164 | **יכל** | to be able | 64 | 0.05% | Gen.13.6 |
| 165 | **חוצ** | outside, outdoors | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.6.14 |
| 166 | **אשה** | fire offering | 63 | 0.05% | Exod.29.18 |
| 167 | **ימנ** | to favor the right side | 62 | 0.05% | Gen.13.9 |
| 168 | **פרה** | to produce fruit | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.1.11 |
| 169 | **נפל** | to fall | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.2.21 |
| 170 | **ארבעימ** | forty days | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.5.13 |
| 171 | **דור** | to remain | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.6.9 |
| 172 | **גבל** | to mark boundaries | 59 | 0.05% | Gen.10.19 |
| 173 | **שרר** | to have power | 59 | 0.05% | Gen.12.15 |
| 174 | **חלמ** | to make plump, dream | 59 | 0.05% | Gen.20.3 |
| 175 | **יתר** | to exceed, remain | 59 | 0.05% | Gen.30.36 |
| 176 | **משח** | to rub with oil, to anoint | 59 | 0.05% | Gen.31.13 |
| 177 | **יספ** | to continue adding | 58 | 0.05% | Gen.4.2 |
| 178 | **כפפ** | to curve | 58 | 0.05% | Gen.8.9 |
| 179 | **אנפ** | to get angry | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.2.7 |
| 180 | **איב** | to hate, be hostile | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.22.17 |
| 181 | **סור** | to turn away | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.8.13 |
| 182 | **שער** | to guard, estimate | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.19.1 |
| 183 | **חזק** | to grasp, to fortify | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.19.16 |
| 184 | **חקה** | enactment, rule | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.26.5 |
| 185 | **עננ** | to practice magic | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.9.13 |
| 186 | **שתה** | to drink | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.9.21 |
| 187 | **לבב** | to give, to make | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.20.5 |
| 188 | **נסכ** | to pour, to anoint | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.35.14 |
| 189 | **נוח** | to rest, settle | 54 | 0.04% | Gen.8.21 |
| 190 | **אספ** | to collect, take together | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.6.21 |
| 191 | **חמר** | to smear with clay | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.12.16 |
| 192 | **שור** | to travel about | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.32.6 |
| 193 | **חצה** | to cut in half | 52 | 0.04% | Exod.12.29 |
| 194 | **נופ** | to wave | 52 | 0.04% | Exod.29.24 |
| 195 | **קהל** | to gather together | 51 | 0.04% | Gen.28.3 |
| 196 | **קבר** | to bury | 50 | 0.04% | Gen.15.15 |
| 197 | **אחז** | to grab, hold | 50 | 0.04% | Gen.17.8 |
| 198 | **חקק** | to make laws | 50 | 0.04% | Gen.47.22 |
| 199 | **קרש** | slab plank deck | 50 | 0.04% | Exod.26.15 |
| 200 | **לבנ** | to make white, to brick | 49 | 0.04% | Gen.30.35 |
Counted as dictionary headwords: each row covers every inflection of one word.
| # | Hebrew | Meaning | Count | % of Chumash | First seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **כֹּל** | all, every | 1,595 | 1.29% | Gen.1.21 |
| 2 | **בֵּן** | son, builder | 1,496 | 1.21% | Gen.3.16 |
| 3 | **אָמַר** | to say | 1,373 | 1.11% | Gen.1.3 |
| 4 | **הָיָה** | to be | 1,049 | 0.85% | Gen.1.2 |
| 5 | **עָשָׂה** | to make | 860 | 0.69% | Gen.1.7 |
| 6 | **אֶרֶץ** | the earth | 849 | 0.68% | Gen.1.1 |
| 7 | **יוֹם** | day | 668 | 0.54% | Gen.1.5 |
| 8 | **נָתַן** | to give | 647 | 0.52% | Gen.1.17 |
| 9 | **פָּנִים** | face, before | 627 | 0.51% | Gen.1.2 |
| 10 | **בּוֹא** | to bring to, give | 618 | 0.50% | Gen.2.19 |
| 11 | **אִישׁ** | man, male person | 570 | 0.46% | Gen.2.23 |
| 12 | **עַם** | people, tribe, troops | 445 | 0.36% | Gen.11.6 |
| 13 | **דַּבֵּר** | to speak | 415 | 0.33% | Gen.8.15 |
| 14 | **אָב** | father, parent | 413 | 0.33% | Gen.2.24 |
| 15 | **אֶחָד** | one, first | 399 | 0.32% | Gen.1.5 |
| 16 | **רָאָה** | to see | 396 | 0.32% | Gen.1.4 |
| 17 | **לָקַח** | to take | 393 | 0.32% | Gen.2.15 |
| 18 | **יָד** | hand | 382 | 0.31% | Gen.3.22 |
| 19 | **שָׁנָה** | year | 371 | 0.30% | Gen.1.14 |
| 20 | **יָצָא** | to go out, bring out | 347 | 0.28% | Gen.1.12 |
| 21 | **שְׁנַיִם** | two | 329 | 0.27% | Gen.1.16 |
| 22 | **אָכַל** | to eat | 328 | 0.26% | Gen.2.16 |
| 23 | **בַּיִת** | house | 324 | 0.26% | Gen.6.14 |
| 24 | **אִשָּׁה** | woman | 307 | 0.25% | Gen.2.22 |
| 25 | **מוּת** | to die | 303 | 0.24% | Gen.2.17 |
| 26 | **כֹּהֵן** | priest, official | 295 | 0.24% | Gen.14.18 |
| 27 | **אָח** | brother, sibling | 285 | 0.23% | Gen.4.2 |
| 28 | **דָּבָר** | word, matter, thing | 256 | 0.21% | Gen.11.1 |
| 29 | **שֵׁם** | name, honor | 252 | 0.20% | Gen.2.11 |
| 30 | **צָוָה** | to order, command | 252 | 0.20% | Gen.2.16 |
| 31 | **שָׁמַע** | to hear attentively | 240 | 0.19% | Gen.3.8 |
| 32 | **עַיִן** | eye | 231 | 0.19% | Gen.3.5 |
| 33 | **יָלַךְ** | to walk, carry | 229 | 0.18% | Gen.3.14 |
| 34 | **קֹדֶשׁ** | sacred place | 221 | 0.18% | Exod.3.5 |
| 35 | **אֹהֶל** | tent | 214 | 0.17% | Gen.4.20 |
| 36 | **מַיִם** | water | 207 | 0.17% | Gen.1.2 |
| 37 | **נֶפֶשׁ** | living creature | 205 | 0.17% | Gen.1.20 |
| 38 | **יָלַד** | to give birth | 205 | 0.17% | Gen.3.16 |
| 39 | **בַּת** | daughter | 204 | 0.16% | Gen.5.4 |
| 40 | **עָלָה** | to go up | 201 | 0.16% | Gen.2.6 |
| 41 | **שָׁלַח** | to send away | 201 | 0.16% | Gen.3.22 |
| 42 | **יָשַׁב** | to sit, dwell, remain | 199 | 0.16% | Gen.4.16 |
| 43 | **מִזְבֵּחַ** | altar | 198 | 0.16% | Gen.8.20 |
| 44 | **קָרַב** | to bring near | 198 | 0.16% | Gen.12.11 |
| 45 | **מֵאָה** | a hundred | 194 | 0.16% | Gen.5.3 |
| 46 | **קָרָא** | to name | 192 | 0.15% | Gen.1.5 |
| 47 | **שֶׁבַע** | seven, week | 185 | 0.15% | Gen.4.24 |
| 48 | **מִשְׁפָּחָה** | family, tribe | 185 | 0.15% | Gen.8.19 |
| 49 | **שׁוּב** | to turn back | 180 | 0.15% | Gen.3.19 |
| 50 | **עֶבֶד** | servant | 180 | 0.15% | Gen.9.25 |
| 51 | **יָדַע** | to know | 174 | 0.14% | Gen.3.5 |
| 52 | **עִיר** | city | 173 | 0.14% | Gen.4.17 |
| 53 | **נָשָׂא** | to lift, carry | 168 | 0.14% | Gen.4.13 |
| 54 | **דָּם** | blood, juice, shed blood | 166 | 0.13% | Gen.4.10 |
| 55 | **מוֹעֵד** | appointed time | 160 | 0.13% | Gen.1.14 |
| 56 | **שׂוּם** | to put | 151 | 0.12% | Gen.2.8 |
| 57 | **הַר** | mountain range | 150 | 0.12% | Gen.7.19 |
| 58 | **שָׁמַר** | to protect, guard | 148 | 0.12% | Gen.2.15 |
| 59 | **עֹלָה** | to offer as a sacrifice | 148 | 0.12% | Gen.8.20 |
| 60 | **כֶּסֶף** | silver, money | 146 | 0.12% | Gen.13.2 |
| 61 | **קוּם** | to rise | 145 | 0.12% | Gen.4.8 |
| 62 | **רֹאשׁ** | head | 144 | 0.12% | Gen.2.10 |
| 63 | **זָהָב** | gold, yellow | 143 | 0.12% | Gen.2.11 |
| 64 | **חַטָּאָה** | offense, sin | 142 | 0.11% | Gen.4.7 |
| 65 | **מַטֶּה** | branch, rod, staff | 142 | 0.11% | Gen.38.18 |
| 66 | **חָמֵשׁ** | five years | 139 | 0.11% | Gen.5.6 |
| 67 | **בָּשָׂר** | flesh, body | 138 | 0.11% | Gen.2.21 |
| 68 | **בָרַךְ** | to bless | 137 | 0.11% | Gen.1.22 |
| 69 | **חַי** | alive, living | 136 | 0.11% | Gen.1.20 |
| 70 | **פָּקַד** | to oversee, care for | 135 | 0.11% | Gen.21.1 |
| 71 | **תָּוֶךְ** | center | 133 | 0.11% | Gen.1.6 |
| 72 | **מָקוֹם** | place | 133 | 0.11% | Gen.1.9 |
| 73 | **עָבַר** | to cross over | 130 | 0.10% | Gen.8.1 |
| 74 | **פֶּה** | mouth, speech | 124 | 0.10% | Gen.4.11 |
| 75 | **אֶלֶף** | a thousand | 123 | 0.10% | Gen.20.16 |
| 76 | **מָצָא** | to find, to get | 122 | 0.10% | Gen.2.20 |
| 77 | **נָסַע** | to start a journey | 120 | 0.10% | Gen.11.2 |
| 78 | **שָׂדֶה** | open space | 117 | 0.09% | Gen.2.5 |
| 79 | **אַיִל** | ram | 117 | 0.09% | Gen.15.9 |
| 80 | **דֶּרֶךְ** | a path or way | 116 | 0.09% | Gen.3.24 |
| 81 | **צֹאן** | flock of sheep or goats | 116 | 0.09% | Gen.4.2 |
| 82 | **שָׁלוֹשׁ** | three | 115 | 0.09% | Gen.5.22 |
| 83 | **טָמֵא** | to be contaminated | 114 | 0.09% | Gen.34.5 |
| 84 | **עָבַד** | to work, serve | 113 | 0.09% | Gen.2.5 |
| 85 | **מִנְחָה** | to bring as an offering | 113 | 0.09% | Gen.4.3 |
| 86 | **בֶּגֶד** | clothing, disguise | 113 | 0.09% | Gen.24.53 |
| 87 | **זֶרַע** | seed, plant, offspring | 112 | 0.09% | Gen.1.11 |
| 88 | **עֵדָה** | a group, congregation | 110 | 0.09% | Exod.12.3 |
| 89 | **עֵץ** | tree, wood | 108 | 0.09% | Gen.1.11 |
| 90 | **אָדָם** | human being | 107 | 0.09% | Gen.1.26 |
| 91 | **שֶׁמֶן** | oil | 106 | 0.09% | Gen.28.18 |
| 92 | **מִדְבָּר** | open field, desert | 105 | 0.08% | Gen.14.6 |
| 93 | **אֵשׁ** | fire | 104 | 0.08% | Gen.15.17 |
| 94 | **מַחֲנֶה** | camp, army | 104 | 0.08% | Gen.32.3 |
| 95 | **מִשְׁכָּן** | dwelling place | 104 | 0.08% | Exod.25.9 |
| 96 | **בְּהֵמָה** | large animal | 103 | 0.08% | Gen.1.24 |
| 97 | **גָּדוֹל** | great, large | 102 | 0.08% | Gen.1.16 |
| 98 | **קוֹל** | voice, sound | 102 | 0.08% | Gen.3.8 |
| 99 | **מֶלֶךְ** | king | 101 | 0.08% | Gen.14.1 |
| 100 | **יָרַשׁ** | to take possession of | 101 | 0.08% | Gen.15.3 |
| 101 | **שָׁמַיִם** | sky, heavens | 100 | 0.08% | Gen.1.1 |
| 102 | **נָכָה** | to strike | 99 | 0.08% | Gen.4.15 |
| 103 | **קֶרֶב** | near, among | 99 | 0.08% | Gen.18.12 |
| 104 | **כְּלִי** | utensil, vessel | 99 | 0.08% | Gen.24.53 |
| 105 | **אַרְבַּע** | four | 98 | 0.08% | Gen.2.10 |
| 106 | **בָּקָר** | cattle herd | 98 | 0.08% | Gen.12.16 |
| 107 | **אֲדָמָה** | soil, earth | 96 | 0.08% | Gen.1.25 |
| 108 | **רַע** | bad or evil | 96 | 0.08% | Gen.2.9 |
| 109 | **עָשָׂר** | ten, teens | 92 | 0.07% | Gen.5.8 |
| 110 | **פַּר** | bull, ox | 92 | 0.07% | Gen.32.16 |
| 111 | **גּוֹי** | foreign nation | 91 | 0.07% | Gen.10.5 |
| 112 | **אָדוֹן** | to control | 91 | 0.07% | Gen.18.3 |
| 113 | **צָבָא** | army, force | 90 | 0.07% | Gen.2.1 |
| 114 | **בַּד** | by itself | 90 | 0.07% | Gen.2.18 |
| 115 | **אֶבֶן** | stone | 88 | 0.07% | Gen.2.12 |
| 116 | **יָרַד** | to go down | 88 | 0.07% | Gen.11.5 |
| 117 | **יָם** | large body of water | 87 | 0.07% | Gen.1.10 |
| 118 | **כֶּבֶשׂ** | ram, male sheep | 87 | 0.07% | Exod.12.5 |
| 119 | **טוֹב** | good, well | 86 | 0.07% | Gen.1.4 |
| 120 | **חֹדֶשׁ** | new moon month | 86 | 0.07% | Gen.7.11 |
| 121 | **חָנָה** | to pitch camp | 86 | 0.07% | Gen.26.17 |
| 122 | **לֵוִיִּי** | descendant of Levi | 86 | 0.07% | Exod.4.14 |
| 123 | **הָלַךְ** | to walk | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.2.14 |
| 124 | **לֶחֶם** | food, especially bread | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.3.19 |
| 125 | **עָמַד** | to stand | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.18.8 |
| 126 | **חָיָה** | to live | 83 | 0.07% | Gen.5.3 |
| 127 | **מִשְׁפָּט** | to judge, decide | 83 | 0.07% | Gen.18.19 |
| 128 | **עֲבֹדָה** | to work | 83 | 0.07% | Gen.29.27 |
| 129 | **בְּרִית** | to make a pact | 82 | 0.07% | Gen.6.18 |
| 130 | **יָרֵא** | to fear, reverence | 81 | 0.07% | Gen.3.10 |
| 131 | **בֹּקֶר** | morning dawn | 80 | 0.06% | Gen.1.5 |
| 132 | **עוֹר** | skin, hide | 80 | 0.06% | Gen.3.21 |
| 133 | **כָּפַר** | to cover, forgive | 79 | 0.06% | Gen.6.14 |
| 134 | **קׇרְבָּן** | sacrificial offering | 78 | 0.06% | Lev.1.2 |
| 135 | **עֶרֶב** | dusk, evening | 77 | 0.06% | Gen.1.5 |
| 136 | **קָדַשׁ** | to set apart as holy | 75 | 0.06% | Gen.2.3 |
| 137 | **פֶּתַח** | door, entrance | 75 | 0.06% | Gen.4.7 |
| 138 | **נַחֲלָה** | inheritance | 74 | 0.06% | Gen.31.14 |
| 139 | **עוֹלָם** | eternity, always | 73 | 0.06% | Gen.3.22 |
| 140 | **עֶשְׂרִים** | twenty | 73 | 0.06% | Gen.6.3 |
| 141 | **אַמָּה** | unit of length | 73 | 0.06% | Gen.6.15 |
| 142 | **שֵׁשׁ** | six | 73 | 0.06% | Gen.7.6 |
| 143 | **סָבִיב** | around, surrounding | 73 | 0.06% | Gen.23.17 |
| 144 | **חֲמִשִּׁים** | fifty | 72 | 0.06% | Gen.6.15 |
| 145 | **חָטָא** | to miss, sin | 72 | 0.06% | Gen.20.6 |
| 146 | **זֶבַח** | to offer as a sacrifice | 72 | 0.06% | Gen.31.54 |
| 147 | **נָשִׂיא** | leader, prince | 71 | 0.06% | Gen.17.20 |
| 148 | **שָׁבַע** | to swear | 70 | 0.06% | Gen.21.23 |
| 149 | **טָהוֹר** | to be clean | 69 | 0.06% | Gen.7.2 |
| 150 | **כָּרַת** | to make a covenant | 69 | 0.06% | Gen.9.11 |
| 151 | **בְּכוֹר** | firstborn, chief | 69 | 0.06% | Gen.10.15 |
| 152 | **שְׁלוֹשִׁים** | thirty years | 68 | 0.05% | Gen.5.3 |
| 153 | **גֵּר** | foreigner, guest | 68 | 0.05% | Gen.15.13 |
| 154 | **לֵב** | heart, feelings | 67 | 0.05% | Gen.6.5 |
| 155 | **נֶגַע** | to inflict, to strike | 67 | 0.05% | Gen.12.17 |
| 156 | **רָבָה** | to increase | 66 | 0.05% | Gen.1.22 |
| 157 | **רַב** | abundant, great | 66 | 0.05% | Gen.6.5 |
| 158 | **טָמֵא** | unclean | 66 | 0.05% | Lev.5.2 |
| 159 | **מְלָאכָה** | work | 65 | 0.05% | Gen.2.2 |
| 160 | **חֶלֶב** | choice part | 65 | 0.05% | Gen.4.4 |
| 161 | **מַעֲשֶׂה** | action, transaction | 65 | 0.05% | Gen.5.29 |
| 162 | **יָכֹל** | to be able | 64 | 0.05% | Gen.13.6 |
| 163 | **לַיִל** | night | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.1.5 |
| 164 | **אֵם** | mother | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.2.24 |
| 165 | **חוּץ** | outside, outdoors | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.6.14 |
| 166 | **שֶׁקֶל** | weight standard | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.23.15 |
| 167 | **מִצְוָה** | command | 63 | 0.05% | Gen.26.5 |
| 168 | **אִשָּׁה** | sacrifice | 63 | 0.05% | Exod.29.18 |
| 169 | **שֵׁנִי** | second, again | 62 | 0.05% | Gen.1.8 |
| 170 | **אַרְבָּעִים** | forty days | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.5.13 |
| 171 | **דּוֹר** | generation, age | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.6.9 |
| 172 | **שָׁכַב** | to lie down | 61 | 0.05% | Gen.19.4 |
| 173 | **רֶגֶל** | foot, step | 60 | 0.05% | Gen.8.9 |
| 174 | **נָפַל** | to fall | 58 | 0.05% | Gen.2.21 |
| 175 | **יָסַף** | to continue adding | 58 | 0.05% | Gen.4.2 |
| 176 | **כַּף** | hand, palm | 58 | 0.05% | Gen.8.9 |
| 177 | **מָלֵא** | to fill up | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.1.22 |
| 178 | **שְׁבִיעִי** | seventh day | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.2.2 |
| 179 | **שַׂר** | head person | 57 | 0.05% | Gen.12.15 |
| 180 | **זָכָר** | male, masculine | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.1.27 |
| 181 | **עֵז** | goat | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.15.9 |
| 182 | **שַׁעַר** | door, gate | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.19.1 |
| 183 | **חֻקָּה** | rule, command, regulation | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.26.5 |
| 184 | **תּוֹרָה** | law | 56 | 0.05% | Gen.26.5 |
| 185 | **נָגַד** | to announce, expose | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.3.11 |
| 186 | **רִאשׁוֹן** | first, foremost | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.8.13 |
| 187 | **סוּר** | to turn away | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.8.13 |
| 188 | **לֵבָב** | heart | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.20.5 |
| 189 | **אֶדֶן** | column base | 55 | 0.04% | Exod.26.19 |
| 190 | **נָגַע** | to touch, strike | 54 | 0.04% | Gen.3.3 |
| 191 | **זָקֵן** | old person | 54 | 0.04% | Gen.18.11 |
| 192 | **טָהֵר** | to make pure | 54 | 0.04% | Gen.35.2 |
| 193 | **שֶׁלֶם** | to offer as a peace offering | 54 | 0.04% | Exod.20.24 |
| 194 | **אַחֵר** | next, other | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.4.25 |
| 195 | **גְּבוּל** | boundary, territory | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.10.19 |
| 196 | **אֹיֵב** | enemy | 53 | 0.04% | Gen.22.17 |
| 197 | **רֵעַ** | friend | 52 | 0.04% | Gen.11.3 |
| 198 | **שׁוֹר** | cattle traveler | 52 | 0.04% | Gen.32.6 |
| 199 | **אַף** | face, anger | 51 | 0.04% | Gen.2.7 |
| 200 | **מִקְנֶה** | property, livestock | 51 | 0.04% | Gen.4.20 |
Prefixes, prepositions, conjunctions and standalone pronouns, and the single most valuable list in this book.
If you learn one table in this book, learn the first thirty rows of this one. Between them the six prefixes at the top account for over a quarter of every word in the Chumash.
| # | Hebrew | Meaning | Count | % of Chumash | First seen |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | **וְ** | and | 13,768 | 11.09% | Gen.1.1 |
| 2 | **הַ** | the (definite article) | 7,450 | 6.00% | Gen.1.1 |
| 3 | **לְ** | to, for | 5,773 | 4.65% | Gen.1.5 |
| 4 | **אֵת** | to specifically indicate | 4,153 | 3.35% | Gen.1.1 |
| 5 | **בְּ** | in, with, by | 3,882 | 3.13% | Gen.1.1 |
| 6 | **אֲשֶׁר** | who, which, what, that, when, where, how | 1,908 | 1.54% | Gen.1.7 |
| 7 | **אֵל** | near, toward, among | 1,682 | 1.36% | Gen.1.9 |
| 8 | **מִ** | from | 1,625 | 1.31% | Gen.1.7 |
| 9 | **עַל** | above, over, upon | 1,529 | 1.23% | Gen.1.2 |
| 10 | **לֹא** | not, no | 1,344 | 1.08% | Gen.2.5 |
| 11 | **כִּי** | because, since | 1,040 | 0.84% | Gen.1.4 |
| 12 | **הוּא** | he, it, self, this, that | 644 | 0.52% | Gen.2.11 |
| 13 | **כְּ** | like, as | 571 | 0.46% | Gen.1.26 |
| 14 | **מִן** | from, out of | 393 | 0.32% | Gen.2.6 |
| 15 | **זֶה** | this or that | 337 | 0.27% | Gen.5.1 |
| 16 | **אִם** | whether, if, oh that | 327 | 0.26% | Gen.4.7 |
| 17 | **עַד** | to, until, during | 307 | 0.25% | Gen.3.19 |
| 18 | **אֵת** | with, by, at, among | 296 | 0.24% | Gen.4.1 |
| 19 | **אַתָּה** | you | 265 | 0.21% | Gen.3.11 |
| 20 | **אֵלֶּה** | these or those | 264 | 0.21% | Gen.2.4 |
| 21 | **שָׁם** | then, there | 259 | 0.21% | Gen.2.8 |
| 22 | **אוֹ** | or, if | 256 | 0.21% | Gen.24.49 |
| 23 | **עִם** | with, along with | 243 | 0.20% | Gen.3.6 |
| 24 | **הִנֵּה** | look! | 213 | 0.17% | Gen.1.29 |
| 25 | **אַחַר** | after | 198 | 0.16% | Gen.5.4 |
| 26 | **כֵּן** | rightly so | 182 | 0.15% | Gen.1.7 |
| 27 | **אֲנִי** | I am | 181 | 0.15% | Gen.6.17 |
| 28 | **זֹאת** | this one | 179 | 0.14% | Gen.2.23 |
| 29 | **גַּם** | even, also, too | 177 | 0.14% | Gen.3.6 |
| 30 | **בֵּין** | between, either...or | 165 | 0.13% | Gen.1.4 |
| 31 | **אָנֹכִי** | I am | 141 | 0.11% | Gen.3.10 |
| 32 | **תַּחַת** | below, underneath | 137 | 0.11% | Gen.1.7 |
| 33 | **מָה** | what, how, why, whatever | 132 | 0.11% | Gen.2.19 |
| 34 | **אַיִן** | nothing | 129 | 0.10% | Gen.2.5 |
| 35 | **הֵם** | they emphasize | 120 | 0.10% | Gen.3.7 |
| 36 | **נָא** | now please | 109 | 0.09% | Gen.12.11 |
| 37 | **אַל** | not, nothing | 104 | 0.08% | Gen.13.8 |
| 38 | **הֲ** | interrogative ('is it?') | 96 | 0.08% | Gen.3.11 |
| 39 | **עוֹד** | again, repeatedly, still | 95 | 0.08% | Gen.4.25 |
| 40 | **עַתָּה** | at this time | 84 | 0.07% | Gen.3.22 |
| 41 | **מַעַן** | on account of | 78 | 0.06% | Gen.12.13 |
| 42 | **מְאֹד** | very, greatly | 75 | 0.06% | Gen.1.31 |
| 43 | **פֵּן** | lest, in case | 62 | 0.05% | Gen.3.3 |
| 44 | **מַעַל** | upward, above | 60 | 0.05% | Gen.6.16 |
| 45 | **מִי** | whoever | 55 | 0.04% | Gen.3.11 |
| 46 | **הֵן** | lo! if | 45 | 0.04% | Gen.3.22 |
| 47 | **אַךְ** | only, just | 43 | 0.03% | Gen.7.23 |
| 48 | **כֹּה** | thus, here, now | 42 | 0.03% | Gen.15.5 |
| 49 | **רַק** | merely, only | 40 | 0.03% | Gen.6.5 |
| 50 | **בִּלְתִּי** | not, except, without | 30 | 0.02% | Gen.3.11 |
| 51 | **יֵשׁ** | exists | 30 | 0.02% | Gen.18.24 |
| 52 | **אֲנַחְנוּ** | we | 28 | 0.02% | Gen.13.8 |
| 53 | **כְּמוֹ** | like, as | 28 | 0.02% | Gen.19.15 |
| 54 | **אַף** | also, or, though | 22 | 0.02% | Gen.3.1 |
| 55 | **אָז** | at that time then | 21 | 0.02% | Gen.4.26 |
| 56 | **בְּעַד** | at, beside, among, behind, for | 20 | 0.02% | Gen.7.16 |
| 57 | **עִמָּד** | along with | 19 | 0.02% | Gen.3.12 |
| 58 | **מוּל** | opposite, facing | 19 | 0.02% | Exod.18.19 |
| 59 | **אוּלַי** | if not, maybe | 18 | 0.01% | Gen.16.2 |
| 60 | **טֶרֶם** | not yet | 17 | 0.01% | Gen.2.5 |
| 61 | **נֶגֶד** | opposite, before | 17 | 0.01% | Gen.2.18 |
| 62 | **הֵנָּה** | themselves, for is | 17 | 0.01% | Gen.6.2 |
| 63 | **יַחַד** | together | 17 | 0.01% | Gen.13.6 |
| 64 | **אָמֵן** | to confirm, truly | 14 | 0.01% | Num.5.22 |
| 65 | **תְּמוֹל** | a day ago | 12 | 0.01% | Gen.31.2 |
| 66 | **פֹּה** | here, hence | 11 | 0.01% | Gen.19.12 |
| 67 | **אֵיךְ** | how? where? | 11 | 0.01% | Gen.26.9 |
| 68 | **שִׁלְשׁוֹם** | day before yesterday | 11 | 0.01% | Gen.31.2 |
| 69 | **מַדּוּעַ** | why | 10 | 0.01% | Gen.26.27 |
| 70 | **אֵצֶל** | near, beside | 10 | 0.01% | Gen.39.10 |
| 71 | **יוֹמָם** | daily | 10 | 0.01% | Exod.13.21 |
| 72 | **הֵנָּה** | to this side or that side | 9 | 0.01% | Gen.15.16 |
| 73 | **לוּא** | if, would that | 9 | 0.01% | Gen.17.18 |
| 74 | **כָּכָה** | just like that | 9 | 0.01% | Exod.12.11 |
| 75 | **מַטָּה** | downward, below | 9 | 0.01% | Exod.26.24 |
| 76 | **אֵל** | these or those | 8 | 0.01% | Gen.19.8 |
| 77 | **אָן** | where, when, hither, thither | 7 | 0.01% | Gen.16.8 |
| 78 | **הֵן** | they are emphasized | 7 | 0.01% | Gen.19.29 |
| 79 | **הָלְאָה** | far away, so far | 6 | 0.00% | Gen.19.9 |
| 80 | **יַעַן** | for, because of | 6 | 0.00% | Gen.22.16 |
| 81 | **רֵיקָם** | in vain | 6 | 0.00% | Gen.31.42 |
| 82 | **אַיֵּה** | where | 5 | 0.00% | Gen.18.9 |
| 83 | **נֹכַח** | in front of, opposite | 5 | 0.00% | Gen.25.21 |
| 84 | **מָתַי** | when | 5 | 0.00% | Gen.30.30 |
| 85 | **בִּי** | if I may | 5 | 0.00% | Gen.43.20 |
| 86 | **אַי** | where? thus how? | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.3.9 |
| 87 | **בִּלְעֲדֵי** | except, without | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.14.24 |
| 88 | **חָלִילָה** | to forbid | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.18.25 |
| 89 | **אֵפוֹ** | then, now | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.27.33 |
| 90 | **אוּלָם** | however or contrarily | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.28.19 |
| 91 | **חִנָּם** | free of charge | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.29.15 |
| 92 | **נַחְנוּ** | we | 4 | 0.00% | Gen.42.11 |
| 93 | **אֶמֶשׁ** | yesterday | 3 | 0.00% | Gen.19.34 |
| 94 | **אַיִן** | where from | 3 | 0.00% | Gen.29.4 |
| 95 | **לוּלֵא** | if not | 3 | 0.00% | Gen.31.42 |
| 96 | **עַד** | until, to, for | 3 | 0.00% | Exod.15.18 |
| 97 | **אֲחֹרַנִּית** | backwards | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.9.23 |
| 98 | **הֲלֹם** | here to | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.16.13 |
| 99 | **אֲבָל** | not, but | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.17.19 |
| 100 | **אֻמְנָם** | truly | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.18.13 |
| 101 | **הַלָּזֶה** | this one | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.24.65 |
| 102 | **אָכֵן** | firmly, surely, but | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.28.16 |
| 103 | **אָטָד** | buckthorn tree | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.50.10 |
| 104 | **אָנָּא** | now then | 2 | 0.00% | Gen.50.17 |
| 105 | **זוּ** | this or that | 2 | 0.00% | Exod.15.13 |
| 106 | **פִּתְאוֹם** | suddenly | 2 | 0.00% | Num.6.9 |
| 107 | **חֵלֶף** | instead of | 2 | 0.00% | Num.18.21 |
| 108 | **אוֹי** | Oh! | 2 | 0.00% | Num.21.29 |
| 109 | **זוּלָה** | away from | 2 | 0.00% | Deut.1.36 |
| 110 | **שֶׁ** | that, which (relative) | 1 | 0.00% | Gen.6.3 |
| 111 | **אׇמְנָה** | surely | 1 | 0.00% | Gen.20.12 |
| 112 | **אֵיפֹה** | where, when, how | 1 | 0.00% | Gen.37.16 |
| 113 | **אַבְרֵךְ** | to kneel | 1 | 0.00% | Gen.41.43 |
| 114 | **הֵא** | not | 1 | 0.00% | Gen.47.23 |
| 115 | **נָא** | uncooked meat | 1 | 0.00% | Exod.12.9 |
| 116 | **נֵכַח** | opposite to | 1 | 0.00% | Exod.14.2 |
| 117 | **פְּנִימָה** | inside | 1 | 0.00% | Lev.10.18 |
| 118 | **קוֹמְמִיּוּת** | upright, erect | 1 | 0.00% | Lev.26.13 |
Every term used in this book, in one place.