Genesis 28:21

Posted on January 28, 2006 by Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Gn 28:21 reversusque fuero prospere ad domum patris mei: erit mihi Dominus in Deum,

and if I shall have returned safely to the house of my father, the LORD shall be my God.

# Latin Gloss Grammar Tag
1 reversusque and having returned NOM.SG.M.PART.PERF.DEP + ENCLITIC
2 fuero I shall have been 1SG.FUT.PERF.ACT.IND
3 prospere safely/prosperously ADV
4 ad to PREP+ACC
5 domum house ACC.SG.F
6 patris of (my) father GEN.SG.M
7 mei my GEN.SG.M.PRON.ADJ
8 erit he will be 3SG.FUT.ACT.IND
9 mihi to me DAT.SG.PRON
10 Dominus LORD NOM.SG.M
11 in as/in PREP+ACC
12 Deum God ACC.SG.M

Syntax

Conditional Clause: reversusque fuero prospere ad domum patris mei — a future perfect condition (“and if I shall have returned safely to the house of my father”), with reversusque as the perfect participle of the deponent revertor and fuero as the auxiliary; ad domum patris mei forms the destination phrase.
Main Clause: erit mihi Dominus in Deum — future indicative expressing result or apodosis; Dominus is the subject, erit the copula, mihi dative of relation (“for me”), and in Deum expresses the predicate complement meaning “as God.”

Morphology

  1. reversusque — Lemma: revertor; Part of Speech: participle (deponent) + conjunction; Form: nominative singular masculine perfect participle + enclitic -que; Function: introduces conditional protasis; Translation: “and having returned”; Notes: Perfect participle of deponent verb used with auxiliary fuero to form future perfect.
  2. fuero — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: future perfect active indicative 1st person singular; Function: auxiliary verb completing reversus; Translation: “I shall have been” (or “shall have returned”); Notes: Expresses completed action in future time.
  3. prospere — Lemma: prospere; Part of Speech: adverb; Form: —; Function: modifies reversus fuero; Translation: “safely/prosperously”; Notes: Indicates favorable outcome of the journey.
  4. ad — Lemma: ad; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs accusative; Function: expresses motion toward; Translation: “to”; Notes: Introduces destination phrase.
  5. domum — Lemma: domus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative singular feminine; Function: object of ad; Translation: “house”; Notes: Commonly used without article in Latin for “home.”
  6. patris — Lemma: pater; Part of Speech: noun; Form: genitive singular masculine; Function: possessive genitive modifying domum; Translation: “of (my) father”; Notes: Marks ownership or relation.
  7. mei — Lemma: meus; Part of Speech: pronoun/adjective; Form: genitive singular masculine; Function: possessive modifier of patris; Translation: “my”; Notes: Personalizes the phrase as Jacob’s own father’s house.
  8. erit — Lemma: sum; Part of Speech: verb; Form: future active indicative 3rd person singular; Function: copula of the main clause; Translation: “will be”; Notes: Indicates future relationship with YHWH.
  9. mihi — Lemma: ego; Part of Speech: pronoun; Form: dative singular; Function: dative of relation or reference; Translation: “to me/for me”; Notes: Marks the personal aspect of the covenant.
  10. Dominus — Lemma: Dominus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: nominative singular masculine; Function: subject of erit; Translation: “LORD”; Notes: Refers to YHWH in covenantal context.
  11. in — Lemma: in; Part of Speech: preposition; Form: governs accusative; Function: indicates change of state or relation; Translation: “as/in”; Notes: Here expresses designation (“will be as God to me”).
  12. Deum — Lemma: Deus; Part of Speech: noun; Form: accusative singular masculine; Function: predicate accusative with in; Translation: “God”; Notes: Expresses Jacob’s declaration of faith and relationship.

 

About Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Born around 346 A.D. in Stridon, St. Jerome was a scholar fluent in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew whose ascetic discipline and deep engagement with Scripture prepared him for a monumental task: translating the Bible into Latin. Commissioned by Pope Damasus I around 382 A.D., Jerome began by revising the flawed Old Latin Gospels, then expanded his work to the entire Bible. For the New Testament, he corrected Latin texts using Greek manuscripts; for the Old Testament, he translated most books directly from Hebrew—a controversial but principled choice. His final Psalter, however, followed the Greek Septuagint tradition for liturgical use. This composite translation, later known as the Vulgate (editio vulgata), became the authoritative biblical text of the Western Church, formally endorsed at the Council of Trent in 1546. The Vulgate’s influence extends beyond theology into textual criticism and Latin education. As one of the earliest translations grounded in original-language scholarship, it offers a vital witness to the state of biblical texts in late antiquity. Jerome’s lexical and syntactic decisions are studied to trace manuscript history and assess variant readings. Its elegant Latin, consistent in grammar and rich in vocabulary, became a model for medieval and Renaissance learning, bridging classical and ecclesiastical Latin. More than a translation, the Vulgate helped define Christian doctrine, preserved the Latin language, and laid essential groundwork for the critical study of Scripture—remaining indispensable to students of Latin, theology, and textual history.
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