Bible Strands
Genesis 27:2
“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Isaac addresses his summoned elder son Esau while his failing eyesight and advancing age make him aware of his mortality.
The words — The Hebrew זָקַ֑נְתִּי (za.Kan.ti) literally renders "I am old," and הִנֵּה־ (hi.neh-) functions as a demonstrative "Look" or "Here," drawing immediate attention to his physical decline.
The thread — This awareness of life’s brevity echoes the wisdom tradition in Proverbs 27:1 and James 4:14, which both warn against presuming tomorrow, while Ecclesiastes 9:10 grounds the urgency in the reality of Sheol.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human knowledge of life’s duration is limited and that immediate action must precede inevitable decline.
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 said, Behold now, I am old, I know not the day of my death:
Cross-references
- James 4:14 You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
- Proverbs 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever you find to do with your hands, do it with all your might, for in Sheol, where you are going, there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom.
- Mark 13:35 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know when the master of the house will return—whether in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.
- Genesis 47:29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
- Genesis 48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
- 1 Samuel 20:3 But David again vowed, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he has said, ‘Jonathan must not know of this, or he will be grieved.’ As surely as the LORD lives and as you yourself live, there is but a step between me and death.”
- Isaiah 38:1 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are about to die; you will not recover.’”
- Isaiah 38:3 saying, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before You faithfully and with wholehearted devotion; I have done what is good in Your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.