What Does Acts 7:13 Mean?
And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brothers, and Joseph's kin became visible to Pharaoh.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren; and Joseph’s kindred was made known unto Pharaoh.THE KEY
Joseph’s name carries the sense “he adds,” and his recognition brings more than one person into view: his whole kindred.
THE MEANING
You are not only a solitary name: when you become known, the kinship and beginnings carried with you can also come into view. Recognition moves outward here, from one person to the family line that belongs to him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that being recognized means being seen as an isolated individual loses its force here: recognition can reveal the relationships and origins that travel with you.
THE ROOT
ἀνεγνωρίσθη
anegnōristhē
GROWS FROM
γνωρ-
gnōr-
The stem carries the sense of knowing, recognition, and making known.
The verb means “was made known” or “was recognized.” The disclosure is personal: Joseph becomes recognizable to his brothers, and that recognition opens the way for the family around him to come into view.
ALSO GROWS
gnōrizō: to make known, disclose
γνωρίζω
It shares the knowing-and-disclosure stem, showing that being known here is an act of revealing identity.
gnōrisma: a distinguishing sign or mark of recognition
γνώρισμα
This related word links knowing with the features by which someone becomes recognizable.
יוֹסֵף
Yosef
GROWS FROM
יסף
y-s-p
To add, increase, or do again.
“Joseph” in this verse is Yosef. Yosef comes from יָסַף (yāsap), “to add”; his name carries the sense “he adds.” In this verse, recognition widens from one person to his kindred, the name’s meaning echoes the growing circle of what is brought into view.
ALSO GROWS
yāsap: to add, increase
יָסַף
This verb is the seed behind Yosef’s name and gives it the sense of addition.
môsāf: an addition; something added
מוֹסָף
This noun makes the root’s sense of addition concrete, echoing how the disclosure extends to Joseph’s kindred.
γένος
genos
GROWS FROM
γεν-
gen-
Coming into being, birth, or origin.
“kin” in this verse is genos. The word rendered “kindred” is γένος (genos), a family line joined by shared origin. The second clause says φανερὸν (phaneron, “manifest” or “visible”) ἐγένετο (egeneto, “became”): the origins and relationships belonging to Joseph become visible to Pharaoh.
ALSO GROWS
genesis: origin, birth, coming into being
γένεσις
It shares the sense of beginnings carried in γένος and brings the family’s origin into focus.
gennaō: to beget, give birth
γεννάω
It shows how the same word family connects kindred to generation and descent.
THE PATTERN
When a person becomes known, the relationships carried with that person can also come into view.
Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph. Is my father yet living? And his brothers could not answer him, for they were startled before his face.No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all that I heard from my Father I have shown you.For nothing is hidden that will not be made visible, nor anything concealed that will not be known and come into the light.THE THREAD
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for all that I heard from my Father I have shown you.Acts uses ἀνεγνωρίσθη (anegnōristhē, “was made known”), from the same γνωρ- (gnōr-, “know/make known”) word family as ἐγνώρισα (egnōrisa, “I made known”) in John. In Acts, recognizing Joseph brings his kindred into view; in John, making known what is heard from the Father opens what the friends share.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us