Genesis 17:3

And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Abram	אַבְרָ֖ם 'av.Ram	H87	Abram · proper noun, a man's name
fell	וַיִּפֹּ֥ל vai.yi.Pol	H5307	to fall · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
face	פָּנָ֑יו pa.Nav	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
God	אֱלֹהִ֖ים 'E.lo.Him	H430	gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
talked	וַיְדַבֵּ֥ר vay.da.Ber	H1696	perhaps properly · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
saying	לֵאמֹֽר le.Mor	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall…
Judges 13:20 For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar.…
Numbers 16:45 Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.
Joshua 5:14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said…
1 Kings 18:39 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
Matthew 17:6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid.
Revelation 1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
Exodus 3:6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 17:1-3

Here is, I. The time when God made Abram this gracious visit: When he was ninety-nine years old, full thirteen years after the birth of Ishmael. 1. So long, it should seem, God's extraordinary appearances to Abram were intermitted; and all the communion he had with God was only in the usual was of ordinances and providences. Note, There are some special comforts which are not the daily bread, no, not of the best saints, but they are favoured with them now and then. On this side heaven they have convenient food, but not a continual feast. 2. So long the promise of Isaac was deferred. (1.) Perhaps to correct Abram's over-hasty marrying of Hagar. Note, The comforts we sinfully anticipate are ju…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 17:3

Abram fell on his face--the attitude of profoundest reverence assumed by Eastern people. It consists in the prostrate body resting on the hands and knees, with the face bent till the forehead touches the ground. It is an expression of conscious humility and profound reverence.

Adam Clarke on Genesis 17:3

And Abram fell on his face - The eastern method of prostration was thus: the person first went down on his knees, and then lowered his head to his knees, and touched the earth with his forehead. A very painful posture, but significative of great humiliation and reverence.

John Gill on Genesis 17:3

And Abram fell on his face,.... At the sight of so glorious a Person that appeared to him, and in reverence of his majesty, and as sensible of his unworthiness of such a visit, and of having such favours bestowed upon him; and not because he was not as yet circumcised, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it; and so other Jewish (f) writers observe, that before he was circumcised he fell, when God spoke to him, but afterwards he sat and stood, Genesis 18:1; but it may be observed, that not only uncircumcised persons, as Balaam, Numbers 22:31, in whom Jarchi instances, but circumcised ones, as Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1:28, Joshua, Joshua 5:14, and others, have fallen on their faces at a divine appear…

The Church Fathers

Abram fell face down. We read that in the earlier places of sacred history, holy men invoked the Lord, offered him sacrifices of praise, and lived innocently in his sight, but none had fallen face down before the Lord before Abram. However, the more superior gifts he received compared to the previous ones, the greater thanks he gave to the Giver of gifts by humbling himself; and because in falling to the ground he humbly recalled his fragility, he immediately deserved to sublimely recognize the eminence of divine power. For it follows:
— Bede, Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Abraham — Father of a multitude, son of Terah, named (Gen. 11:27) before his older brothers Nahor and Haran, because he was the heir of the promises. Till the age of seventy, Abram sojourned among his kindred…
Adoration — The acts and postures by which the Hebrews expressed adoration bear a great similarity to those still in use among Oriental nations. To rise up and suddenly prostrate the body was the most simple…
Adore — To worship; to express reverence and homage. The forms of adoration among the Jews were putting off the shoes (Ex. 3:5; Josh. 5:15), and prostration (Gen. 17:3; Ps. 95:6; Isa. 44:15, 17, 19; 46:6).…
Circumcision — Cutting around. This rite, practised before, as some think, by divers races, was appointed by God to be the special badge of his chosen people, an abiding sign of their consecration to him. It was…
Covenant — A contract or agreement between two parties. In the Old Testament the Hebrew word berith is always thus translated. Berith is derived from a root which means “to cut,” and hence a covenant is a…
Covenant, The · Made with: Abraham — Made with: Abraham
Worship · Prostration — Prostration

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Genesis 17:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 17:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 17:3

Adam Clarke on Genesis 17:3

John Gill on Genesis 17:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 17:3

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 17:1-3

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 17:3

Adam Clarke on Genesis 17:3

John Gill on Genesis 17:3

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Genesis 17:3

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 17:1-27