Genesis 16:13
And she called the name of the Lord that spoke unto her: Thou the God who hast seen me. For she said: Verily here have I seen the hinder parts of him that seeth me.
Open Genesis 16:13 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Vocavit autem nomen Domini qui loquebatur ad eam : Tu Deus qui vidisti me. Dixit enim : Profecto hic vidi posteriora videntis me.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Ἁγὰρ τὸ ὄνομα Κυρίου τοῦ λαλοῦντος πρὸς αὐτήν Σὺ ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἐφιδών με· ὅτι εἶπεν Καὶ γὰρ ἐνώπιον ἴδον ὀφθέντα μοι.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַתִּקְרָ֤א שֵׁם יְהוָה֙ הַדֹּבֵ֣ר אֵלֶ֔יהָ אַתָּ֖ה אֵ֣ל רֳאִ֑י כִּ֣י אָֽמְרָ֗ה הֲגַ֥ם הֲלֹ֛ם רָאִ֖יתִי אַחֲרֵ֥י רֹאִֽי
Haydock's commentary
Thou the God. She had imagined before that she was talking to some man; but perceiving, at parting, that it was some superior being, she invoked him thus.
The hinder parts, as Moses did afterwards, Exodus xxxiii, to let us know, that we cannot fully comprehend the nature of an angel, much less of God. Hebrew may be: "what! have I seen (do I live) after He has seen me." The Hebrews generally supposed, that death would presently overtake the person who had seen the Lord or his angel. (Judges vi. 22; Exodus xxxii.[xxxiii.?] 20.) (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine Book V, Chapter II
2. Let the restless and the unjust depart and flee from Thee. Thou both seest them and distinguishest the shadows. And lo! all things with them are fair, yet are they themselves foul. And how have they injured Thee? Or in what have they disgraced Thy government, which is just and perfect from heaven even to the lowest parts of the earth. For whither fled they when they fled from Thy presence? Or where dost Thou not find them? But they fled that they might not see Thee seeing them, and blinded might stumble against Thee; since Thou forsakest nothing that Thou hast made, that the unjust might stumble against Thee, and justly be hurt, withdrawing themselves from Thy gentleness, and stumbling against Thine uprightness, and falling upon their own roughness. …
St Hilary of Poitiers De Trinitate or On the Trinity, Book IV
23. After God had often spoken with Abraham, Sarah was moved to wrath against Hagar, being jealous that she, the mistress, was barren, while her handmaid had conceived a son. Then, when Hagar had departed from her sight, the Spirit speaks thus concerning her, And the angel of the Lord said unto Hagar, Return to thy mistress, and submit thyself under her hands. And the angel of the Lord said unto her, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude, and again, And she called the Name of the Lord that spake with her, Thou art God, Who hast seen me . It is the Angel of God Who speaks, and speaks of things far beyond the powers which a messenger, for that is the meaning of the word, could have. He says, I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, and it shall not be numbered for multitude . The power of multiplying nations lies outside the ministry of an angel. …