Genesis 25:21

And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Isaac	יִצְחָ֤ק yitz.Chak	H3327	Jitschak (or Isaac) · proper noun, a man's name
intreated	וַיֶּעְתַּ֨ר vai.ye'.Tar	H6279	to burn incense in worship · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	לַֽיהוָה֙ la.Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · preposition + proper noun, a title
for	לְנֹ֣כַח le.No.khach	H5227	properly · preposition + cardinal number, masculine singular construct
wife	אִשְׁתּ֔וֹ 'ish.To	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
barren	עֲקָרָ֖ה 'a.ka.Rah	H6135	sterile (as if extirpated in the generative organs) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
LORD	יְהוָ֔ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
intreated	וַיֵּעָ֤תֶר vai.ye.'A.ter	H6279	to burn incense in worship · conjunction + verb, niphal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Rebekah	רִבְקָ֥ה riv.Kah	H7259	Ribkah · proper noun, a woman's name
wife	אִשְׁתּֽוֹ 'ish.To	H802	a woman · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
conceived	וַתַּ֖הַר va.Ta.har	H2029	to be (or become) pregnant · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular

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

2 Chronicles 33:13 And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Mana…
Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the y…
Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call…
1 Chronicles 5:20 And they were helped against them, and the Hagarites were delivered into their hand, and all that were with them: for they cried to God in t…
Romans 9:10-12 And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;
Genesis 15:2-3 And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
1 Samuel 1:27 For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 25:19-28

We have here an account of the birth of Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah: their entrance into the world was (which is not usual) one of the most considerable parts of their story; nor is much related concerning Isaac but what had reference to his father while he lived and to his sons afterwards. For Isaac seems not to have been a man of action, nor much tried, but to have spent his days in quietness and silence. Now concerning Jacob and Esau we are here told, I. That they were prayed for. Their parents, after they had been long childless, obtained them by prayer, Gen 25:20, Gen 25:21. Isaac was forty years old when he was married; though he was an only son, and the person f…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 25:21

Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife--Though tried in a similar way to his father, he did not follow the same crooked policy. Twenty years he continued unblessed with offspring, whose seed was to be "as the stars" [Gen 26:4]. But in answer to their mutual prayers (Pe1 3:7), Rebekah was divinely informed that she was to be the mother of twins, who should be the progenitors of two independent nations; that the descendants of the younger should be the more powerful and subdue those of the other (Rom 9:12; Ch2 21:8).

Adam Clarke on Genesis 25:21

Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife - Isaac and Rebekah had now lived nineteen years together without having a child; for he was forty years old when he married Rebekah, Gen 25:20, and he was threescore years of age when Jacob and Esau were born, Gen 25:26. Hence it is evident they had lived nineteen years together without having a child. The form of the original in this place is worthy of notice: Isaac entreated Jehovah, לנכח אשתו lenochach ishto, directly, purposely, especially, for his wife. Ainsworth thinks the words imply their praying together for this thing; and the rabbins say that "Isaac and Rebekah went on purpose to Mount Moriah, where he had been bound, and prayed together ther…

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The Church Fathers

Isaac too demonstrated the power of prayer when he prayed over Rebekah, and she gave birth.
— Aphrahat the Persian Sage, ON PRAYER 4

(Verse 21.) And Rebecca his wife conceived, and the sons within her were moved. Concerning this movement, the Seventy Interpreters rendered it as ἐσκίρτων, which means they were playing or kicking; which Aquila translated as they were breaking in the womb. But Symmachus rendered it as διέπλεον, which means they were carried on the surface like a ship.
— Jerome, Hebrew Questions on Genesis

Thus Isaac, the son of the promise, who as a figure of our Redeemer became obedient to his father even unto death, was born of parents who were old. He had a mother who had long been barren. Thus Jacob, the patriarch Joseph, Samson, [who was] the bravest of the chieftains, and Samuel, [who was] the most distinguished of the prophets, [all] had as their progenitors [mothers who were] for a long time barren in body but always fruitful in virtues. In this way their dignity would be known from the miraculous nativity of those who were born, and it might be proven that they would be famous in their lives, since at the very outset of their lives they transcended the norms of the human condition.
— Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.19

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

Barren — For a woman to be barren was accounted a severe punishment among the Jews (Gen. 16:2; 30:1-23; 1 Sam. 1:6, 27; Isa. 47:9; 49:21; Luke 1:25). Instances of barrenness are noticed (Gen. 11:30; 25:21;…
Rebekah — A noose, the daughter of Bethuel, and the wife of Isaac (Gen. 22:23; 24:67). The circumstances under which Abraham’s “steward” found her at the “city of Nahor,” in Padan-aram, are narrated in Gen.…
Barrenness · .Rebec — .Rebec
Children · . — .
Conception · .Rebekah — .Rebekah
Esau · Birth of — Birth of
Isaac · .Esau and Jacob born to — .Esau and Jacob born to
Jacob · Given in answer to prayer — Given in answer to prayer
Miracles · .The conception of Jacob and Esau — .The conception of Jacob and Esau
Rebekah (Rebecca) · Mother of Esau and Jacob — Mother of Esau and Jacob

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 25:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 25:19-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 25:21

Adam Clarke on Genesis 25:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Genesis 25:21

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Genesis 25:19-28

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 25:21

Adam Clarke on Genesis 25:21

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Genesis 25:21

John Calvin on Genesis 25:21

Keil & Delitzsch on Genesis 25:21-26

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Genesis 25:21

Rashi on Genesis 25:1