What Does Genesis 18:16 Mean?
And the men rose from there and gazed down toward Sodom, and Abraham walked with them to send them on their way.
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 the men rose up from thence, and looked toward Sodom: and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way.THE KEY
“To bring them on the way” is Abraham’s act of sending the visitors onward while staying with them through their departure.
THE MEANING
The men turn toward Sodom, and Abraham walks with them as they depart. The scene holds departure and presence together: leaving is already underway, yet they are still accompanied along the way.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A departure does not mean shared presence ends the moment someone turns to leave.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁלְּחָם
le-shalleḥam
GROWS FROM
שׁלח
shalach
to send, send forth, or release
“send them on their way” in this verse is le-shalleḥam. The Hebrew לְשַׁלְּחָם (le-shalleḥam, to send them onward) comes from שׁלח (shalach, send or release). “Bring them on the way” can sound like simple transport, while the root reveals Abraham accompanying their sending onward, a parting carried out through presence.
ALSO GROWS
shilleaḥ: sent away; released
שִׁלֵּחַ
This form makes the release within Abraham’s act visible: he accompanies the visitors as they are sent onward.
mishloach: sending; dispatch
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This noun names the act of sending itself, echoing the movement already underway in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Sending someone onward marks a threshold where departure becomes movement into what comes next.
And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham's servant, and his men.And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.Aching most of all for the word he had said, that they would gaze upon his face no more. And they sent him on to the ship.THE THREAD
And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told the Great House, Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may dance a feast to me in the wilderness.The same שׁלח (shalach, send or release) appears in the command “Let my people go.” The shared root links Abraham’s accompaniment of a departure with release as the opening of movement: sending forward and letting go belong to one verb.
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