Bible Strands
Genesis 27:18
So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.” “Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob approaches his father Isaac after receiving the prepared food from Rebekah, initiating a conversation that precedes the blessing request. Isaac responds to the approach with a direct question about identity.
The words — The term הִנֶּ֔נִּ/י (hineni) literally means "here I am," marking immediate presence and readiness. This phrasing appears in patriarchal and prophetic encounters, such as Genesis 22:1 and Exodus 3:4.
The thread — The motif of verified presence and claimed identity recurs in the immediate narrative sequence of Genesis 27:19 and later covenant negotiations in Genesis 44:18.
Why it lands — The text records a moment where spoken designation directly enables covenant transmission. It requires the reader to track how identity claims function mechanically within the narrative without projecting later moral frameworks onto the exchange.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he came unto his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I; who art thou, my son?