הַגּ֛וֹי (hag·gō·w) in Genesis 15:14: Article | Noun - masculine singular
הַגּ֛וֹי (hag·gō·w) in Genesis 15:14
Source Word
At Genesis 15:14, the source token הַגּ֛וֹי is H1471, Art | N-ms. The BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The nation represents the Hebrew article attached to the singular noun and its contextually defined referent. God foreknows both the oppression of Abram's descendants and the judgment of the enslaving power before bringing his people out with possessions.
How To Communicate It
Let the article and relative clause identify the nation by its enslaving action before connecting the promise to the later exodus.
What Not To Say
- Grammatical form should serve context, not override it.
- Do not universalize the judgment to all Gentile peoples or use the definite article as proof that the nation is named in this verse.
- The immediate verse leaves the nation unnamed, though the later Genesis and Exodus narrative identifies the enslaving power.
- Read the nation within Genesis 15:14 as this H1471 occurrence; broader theology requires the passage.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-nominal
Noun
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Masculine
Singular
Not applicable
Article
None
This definite noun identifies a participant in the promise; the surrounding verbs carry judgment and deliverance forward.
The article makes the masculine singular noun definite, while the relative clause supplies the group's narrative identity.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The people whom Abram's descendants will serve
God's promise to judge their oppressing nation and bring the descendants out
The article marks nation as a defined group identified by the following clause they serve as slaves.
The definite noun does not condemn every nation or state that ethnicity itself is the ground of judgment.
How Much The Form Matters Here
High: God foreknows both the oppression of Abram's descendants and the judgment of the enslaving power before bringing his people out with possessions.
The article makes the masculine singular noun definite, while the relative clause supplies the group's narrative identity.. The article marks nation as a defined group identified by the following clause they serve as slaves.. Attached to the people whom Abram's descendants will serve. Governed by God's promise to judge their oppressing nation and bring the descendants out. The definite noun does not condemn every nation or state that ethnicity itself is the ground of judgment.
How can the text say the nation when it does not name that nation here? The article and the clause they serve as slaves define the group within the promise, even before the narrative later identifies Egypt.
Direct: The nation represents the Hebrew article attached to the singular noun and its contextually defined referent.
The immediate verse leaves the nation unnamed, though the later Genesis and Exodus narrative identifies the enslaving power. Nation is a collective singular and does not imply that every individual bears identical responsibility.
Definite article explicitly names Egypt: The article marks a known or defined referent; the relative clause and later narrative provide identification. national identity is the cause of judgment: The promise focuses on oppressive enslavement, not ethnicity as moral guilt.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
At Genesis 15:14, the source token הַגּ֛וֹי is H1471, Art | N-ms. The BSB+ word table row therefore anchors this guide.
גּוֹי is the lemma behind the nation here. Within Genesis 15:14, H1471 retains this exact lexical identity.
The article makes the masculine singular noun definite, while the relative clause supplies the group's narrative identity.
God foreknows both the oppression of Abram's descendants and the judgment of the enslaving power before bringing his people out with possessions.
The promise anticipates the exodus pattern of judgment and deliverance, while the unnamed nation is accountable for oppression rather than ancestry.
Let the article and relative clause identify the nation by its enslaving action before connecting the promise to the later exodus.
Do not universalize the judgment to all Gentile peoples or use the definite article as proof that the nation is named in this verse.