Translating the Aqedah: Transitivity Patterns and the Construction of Agency in English Renderings of Genesis 22
Keywords:
Genesis 22; Aqedah; Bible translation; Hebrew Bible; systemic functional linguistics; transitivity; agency; social actor theory; reception historyAbstract
The Aqedah, the binding of Isaac narrated in Genesis 22, is one of the Hebrew Bible's most theologically charged and linguistically dense passages. This study offers a systematic philological analysis of the Masoretic Hebrew text of Genesis 22:1–19 (BHS, 5th ed.), focusing on verbal morphology, participant marking through the accusative particle ʾet (אֶת) and its discourse functions, the waw-consecutive narrative chain, and the lexical semantics of key verbs, especially nissāh Building on this philological foundation, the study applies Halliday's transitivity system within Systemic .)עָּקַד( and ʿāqad )שָּחַט( with attention also to šāḥaṭ ,)נִסָּה(Functional Linguistics (SFL), together with van Leeuwen's social actor theory, to examine how agency in the Hebrew source text is preserved, reshaped, or reassigned across six major English Bible translations: the KJV (1611), RSV (1952), NIV (1978), NRSV (1989), ESV (2001), and NLT (2004). The analysis shows that the Hebrew text's grammaticalisation of agency, through verbal stems, participant marking, and narrative sequencing, constrains and helps explain the divergent agency constructions found across the translations, with implications for moral responsibility, divine sovereignty, and human volition. The findings demonstrate that close philological attention to the Hebrew original is essential for understanding how translation participates in theological and interpretive meaning-making.
Published in: European Hebrew Journal, Volume 1, Issue 2 (2026)
Article Type: Research Article | Peer Review: Double-Blind Peer Review
Academic Editor: Dr. Nathaniel E. Greene, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Received: 29 June 2026 | Accepted: 5 August 2026 | Published: 17 August 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.67469/EHJ2026.1.2.4 | Pages: 76–110
References
Aissen, J. (2003). Differential object marking: Iconicity vs. economy. Natural Language &
Linguistic Theory, 21(3), 435–483.
Bekins, P. (2014a). Transitivity and object marking in Biblical Hebrew: An investigation of the
object preposition ʾet (Harvard Semitic Studies 64). Eisenbrauns.
Bekins, P. (2014b). Object marking on the Mesha Inscription. Kleine Untersuchungen zur
Sprache des Alten Testaments und seiner Umwelt, 17.
Brown, F., Driver, S.R., & Briggs, C.A. (1906). A Hebrew and English lexicon of the Old
Testament. Clarendon Press. [BDB]
Crossway. (2001). Preface to the English Standard Version. In The Holy Bible: English
Standard Version. Crossway.
Delaney, C. (1998). Abraham on trial: The social legacy of biblical myth. Princeton University
Press.
Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft. (1997). Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (5th ed.). Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft. [BHS]
Eggins, S. (2004). An introduction to systemic functional linguistics (2nd ed.). Continuum.
Firestone, R. (1990). Journeys in holy lands: The evolution of the Abraham-Ishmael legends in
Islamic exegesis. State University of New York Press.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar (1st ed.). Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M.A.K. (1994). An introduction to functional grammar (2nd ed.). Edward Arnold.
Halliday, M.A.K., & Hasan, R. (1989). Language, context, and text: Aspects of language in a
social-semiotic perspective. Oxford University Press.
Halliday, M.A.K., & Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (2004). An introduction to functional grammar
(3rd ed.). Hodder Arnold.
International Bible Society. (1978). Preface to the New International Version. In The Holy
Bible: New International Version. Zondervan.
Joüon, P., & Muraoka, T. (2006). A grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rev. ed.). Pontifical Biblical
Institute. (Original work published 1991)
European Hebrew Journal | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2026)
Khan, G. (1984). Object markers and agreement pronouns in Semitic languages. Bulletin of the
School of Oriental and African Studies, 47(3), 468–500.
Koehler, L., Baumgartner, W., & Stamm, J.J. (2001). The Hebrew and Aramaic lexicon of the
Old Testament (M.E.J. Richardson, Ed. & Trans., 2 vols. combined ed.). Brill.
[HALOT]
Levenson, J.D. (1993). The death and resurrection of the beloved son: The transformation of
child sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity. Yale University Press.
Maher, M. (1992). Targum Pseudo-Jonathan: Genesis (Aramaic Bible, Vol. 1B). Liturgical
Press.
Matthiessen, C.M.I.M. (1995). Lexicogrammatical cartography: English systems. International
Language Sciences Publishers.
Middle English Dictionary. (n.d.). Tempten, v. In Middle English dictionary. University of
Michigan.
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/middle-english
dictionary/dictionary/MED44756
Nida, E.A. (1964). Toward a science of translating: With special reference to principles and
procedures involved in Bible translating. E.J. Brill.
Nida, E.A., & Taber, C.R. (1969). The theory and practice of translation. E.J. Brill.
Norton, D. (2000). A history of the Bible as literature. Cambridge University Press.
Rashkow, I.N. (1993). The phallacy of Genesis: A feminist-psychoanalytic approach.
Westminster John Knox Press.
Sternberg, M. (1985). The poetics of biblical narrative: Ideological literature and the drama of
reading. Indiana University Press.
Strauss, M.L., & De Waard, J. (2011). The challenge of Bible translation: Communicating
God's Word in a changing world. Zondervan.
Theodor, J., & Albeck, H. (1965). Midrash Bereshit Rabba: Critical edition with notes and
commentary (2nd ed., 3 vols.). Wahrmann.
Thompson, G. (2004). Introducing functional grammar (2nd ed.). Arnold.
European Hebrew Journal | Vol. 1, No. 2 (2026)
Tyndale House. (2004). Preface to the New Living Translation (2nd ed.). In Holy Bible: New
Living Translation. Tyndale House.
van Leeuwen, T. (1996). The representation of social actors. In C.R. Caldas-Coulthard & M.
Coulthard (Eds.), Texts and practices: Readings in critical discourse analysis (pp. 32
70). Routledge.
van Leeuwen, T. (2008). Discourse and practice: New tools for critical discourse analysis.
Oxford University Press.
Venuti, L. (1995). The translator's invisibility: A history of translation. Routledge.
Waltke, B.K., & O'Connor, M. (1990). An introduction to Biblical Hebrew syntax. Eisenbrauns.
Webster, N. (1828). American dictionary of the English language. S. Converse.
Wilt, T. (2003). Bible translation: Frames of reference. St. Jerome.
Zewi, T. (2013). Syntax, Biblical Hebrew. In G. Khan (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Hebrew language
and linguistics (Vol. 3, pp. 688–699). Brill.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Vivien Bello-Osagie, Yusuf Zakariya Abdullahi (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright of their work and grant the European Hebrew Journal (EHJ) the right of first publication.
All articles published in EHJ are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
EHJ supports immediate open access to published research and does not charge submission fees or Article Processing Charges (APCs).
*Authors retain copyright of their work and grant EHJ the right of first publication. Articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
