Hebrew word · H3938

לָעַט

hal'iteni

to eat

The verb occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'swallow greedily, gulp'. This form is causative ('cause me to gulp'), so 'let me gulp down', 'cram it into me'. The word belongs to the vocabulary of feeding animals.

Appears once in the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

(Hiphil) to swallow greedily, devour

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Genesis 25:30

Range of meaning

The verb occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'swallow greedily, gulp'. This form is causative ('cause me to gulp'), so 'let me gulp down', 'cram it into me'. Its sense is fixed by later Hebrew: Mishnah Shabbat 24:3 rules that on the Sabbath one may not stuff a camel with food but may put food into its mouth (malʿiṭin, the same verb). The word belongs to the vocabulary of feeding animals.

Against the English

KJV 'Feed me' and WEB 'Please feed me' get the causative idea but sound like a polite request at a table. BSB and ESV 'Let me eat' lose the gulping altogether. NASB 'let me have a swallow' and Alter's 'let me gulp down' come closest.

How it drifted

Translators usually aim for natural, neutral English. The narrator, though, picked an unusual, crude verb when the ordinary 'eat' (ʾakhal) was available, and he did it on purpose.

Used elsewhere in the period

Mishnah Shabbat 24:3 (feeding camels). Later rabbinic Hebrew uses lʿṭ for force-feeding or putting food into an animal's mouth. The Greek Septuagint softens it to geuson me, 'give me a taste'.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 25:30 הַלְעִיטֵ֤נִי let swallow me

    He said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am famished.” (That is why he was also called Edom.)

    Here: A rare, earthy verb found only here in the Hebrew Bible. Literally 'make me gulp' or 'let me wolf down'. In later Hebrew it describes putting food into an animal's mouth. Esau doesn't ask to 'eat'; he asks to have it shovelled in.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.