B-Hebrew: The Biblical Hebrew Forum

Genesis 17:4

וְהָיִיתָ לְאַב הֲמֹון גֹּויִֽם
Most translations have something similar to "And you will be the father of a multitude of nations."
Would it be better to translate as something like "And you will be made into the father..."?

And are there any comparable examples to this?

haya followed by the preposition le is common and is usually translated "become". i.e. Gen 9:15; 18:18; 32:10; Exo 4:9 ....

I think the meaning of the preposition le is to say, You will become "for" a father of many nations as in 2 Sam 7:14. That is, you will not turn in to another thing as in Gen 19:26 (no le), but you will become in addition to what you are, a father of a multitude of nations.

Shalom Philitas,
Maybe the writer would have used the verb asah to convey the meaning you suggested.

jacob wrote:Shalom Philitas,
Maybe the writer would have used the verb asah to convey the meaning you suggested.

No, that use would be if God said he’ll make Abraham such.

But to say “you’ll become” uses the verb hayah.

Karl W. Randolph.

SteveMiller wrote:I think the meaning of the preposition le is to say, You will become "for" a father of many nations as in 2 Sam 7:14. That is, you will not turn in to another thing as in Gen 19:26 (no le), but you will become in addition to what you are, a father of a multitude of nations.

Steve, I think that's reading into things too much. The expression היה + ל is just a standard idiomatic way that Hebrew expression the notion of 'becoming'. It doesn't have to do with becoming 'in addition to'. It's simply saying that A 'becomes' B. This is either through A developing into B, or changing into B, performing the role of B, etc. It's just a standard Hebrew expression.

Cheers!

Shalom Karl,

Philitas suggested the meaning "and you will be made into." For the phrase to be translated this way, what verb would you use?

George Athas wrote:

SteveMiller wrote:I think the meaning of the preposition le is to say, You will become "for" a father of many nations as in 2 Sam 7:14. That is, you will not turn in to another thing as in Gen 19:26 (no le), but you will become in addition to what you are, a father of a multitude of nations.

Steve, I think that's reading into things too much. The expression היה + ל is just a standard idiomatic way that Hebrew expression the notion of 'becoming'. It doesn't have to do with becoming 'in addition to'. It's simply saying that A 'becomes' B. This is either through A developing into B, or changing into B, performing the role of B, etc. It's just a standard Hebrew expression.

Cheers!

Thank you, George! Yes, I see that you are right. I had thought that היה + ל just referred to your 3rd meaning, but I see it is used when Aaron's and the Egyptians' staffs turned into serpents and vice-versa. Oddly, to me, היה + ל is used consistently for the staffs <-> serpents (Exo 4:3-4; 7:10-12), but היה without ל is used for the dust and ashes becoming gnats and boils (Exo 8:17; 9:10).