This distinctive phrase kî ʿal kēn combines the conjunction kî ('for, because') with the prepositional expression ʿal kēn ('therefore, on this account'), creating a pleonastic emphasis — literally 'for on-account-of-this.' It appears in key narrative moments where a speaker wants to underscore the reason behind an action: Abraham urging hospitality (Gen 18:5), Lot protecting his guests (Gen 19:8), Jacob's emotional reunion with Esau (Gen 33:10). The translations across languages reduce it to simple 'because' or 'for' — Spanish 'porque,' French 'parce que,' German 'denn' — though the Hebrew original carries a weightier, more emphatic rhetorical force than any single causal conjunction conveys.