לֵאמֹ֑ר (lê·mōr) in Genesis 15:18: Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
לֵאמֹ֑ר (lê·mōr) in Genesis 15:18
Source Word
The BSB+ row for Genesis 15:18 links the English rendering "saying" with לֵאמֹ֑ר, Strong's H559, and the morphology label Prep-l | V-Qal-Inf.
How The Form Affects Interpretation
The form helps readers follow the verse from covenant-making to the spoken promise about the land.
How To Communicate It
In explanation, this form can help readers keep the grammar of speech connected to the covenant promise that follows.
What Not To Say
- Grammar should serve context, not override it.
- Do not make the speech formula carry the land promise apart from the quoted words.
- Do not use the Qal stem to settle covenant theology.
- Do not treat this occurrence as a full word study for H559.
- Let the covenant statement in Genesis 15:18 supply the content.
What Does The Label Mean?
Hebrew-verb
Verb
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Lamed preposition
Qal
Inf
Not marked
Not marked
Not marked
The morphology label identifies the form, but Genesis 15:18 supplies the sentence role and theological meaning.
This form carries the BSB rendering "saying" within Genesis 15:18. Genesis 15 anchors God's covenant promise to Abram, moving from promise and faith to assurance and covenant sign.
What The Form Does In This Verse
The covenant speech in Genesis 15:18, where the Lord makes a covenant with Abram and states the land promise
The prefixed lamed on a Qal infinitive construct used as a speech-introduction formula
It introduces the covenant statement that follows, helping readers see that the land promise is spoken as covenant speech.
It does not carry the land promise by itself; the quoted covenant statement supplies the content.
How Much The Form Matters Here
Moderate: The form introduces a high-value covenant promise, though it does not itself carry the promise content.
Lamed-prefixed Qal infinitive construct formula. introduces the stated content of the covenant promise. Attached to the Lord making a covenant with Abram. Governed by the covenant-making clause and the quoted promise that follows. The formula guides readers into the quoted promise, which must carry the interpretive weight.
What does the covenant act lead into? It leads into the Lord's spoken promise about the land given to Abram's descendants.
Direct: The formula is represented by the English speech marker "saying."
Speech-introduction forms orient the reader to quoted content but do not replace the quoted content. The covenant context makes the speech important, but the form itself remains a formula. The Qal infinitive label should not be made to carry covenant theology by itself.
Saying carries the covenant promise by itself: The form introduces the promise; the quoted words give its content. Qal decides covenant theology: The stem label does not bear that doctrinal weight. formula means unimportant: The formula is modest but useful because it frames covenant speech.
How The Interpretation Is Derived
The BSB+ row for Genesis 15:18 links the English rendering "saying" with לֵאמֹ֑ר, Strong's H559, and the morphology label Prep-l | V-Qal-Inf.
H559 is represented here by the lemma אָמַר. In this occurrence, the public guide is limited to the BSB rendering "saying" rather than every possible gloss of the entry.
The form introduces the Lord's covenant statement after the narrative says He made a covenant with Abram.
Genesis 15 anchors God's covenant promise to Abram, moving from promise and faith to assurance and covenant sign.
The form fits Scripture's covenant pattern in which God speaks, promises, judges, gives, and keeps his word.
When teaching Genesis 15:18, use this form to show that the covenant act is immediately explained by spoken promise.
Do not derive land theology or covenant doctrine from Prep-l | V-Qal-Inf alone. The form introduces the covenant statement that must be read in full.