What Does Genesis 18:5 Mean?
And I will take a morsel of bread, and prop up your hearts. After that you shall pass on, for therefore you have crossed over to your servant. And they said, So you shall make it, as you have spoken.
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 I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.THE KEY
Here, comfort arrives as bread: the Hebrew verb for supporting the heart shares its root with the word for a meal.
THE MEANING
Your heart can be sustained before the road resumes. Nourishment belongs within the journey: it steadies you, and then you pass on. Your arrival is received as worthy of care, not as an interruption.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not have to choose between receiving care and continuing your way.
THE ROOT
וְסַעֲדוּ
wə-saʿadu
GROWS FROM
סעד
s-ʿ-d
Support, sustain, strengthen.
“prop up” in this verse is wə-saʿadu. The verb translated “comfort” means “support” or “sustain.” סְעוּדָה (seʿudah, meal) comes from the same root, joining care for the heart to sustaining nourishment.
ALSO GROWS
saʿad: To support or sustain.
סָעַד
This is the action behind the verse’s “comfort”: the heart is upheld.
seʿudah: A meal or banquet.
סְעוּדָה
The same root links a meal with support, fitting the bread offered here.
תַּעֲבֹרוּ
taʿavru
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
Cross over, pass through.
“Ye shall pass on” and “are ye come” are both forms of עבר (ʿ-b-r). English makes the arrival and departure sound unrelated; Hebrew holds them within one continuous passage, with the meal as support along the way.
ALSO GROWS
ʿever: The other side; beyond or across.
עֵבֶר
It preserves the root’s sense of movement across a boundary.
maʿavar: A crossing or passage.
מַעֲבָר
The meal falls within a passage that is already underway and continues afterward.
THE PATTERN
The way forward is sustained by receiving what strengthens the heart and body.
And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.And the messenger of the LORD turned back a second time, and touched him, and said, "Rise and eat, for the road is too great for you."So I urge you to take food, for this is for your deliverance, for not one hair from the head of any of you will perish.THE THREAD
And wine that gladdens the heart of a frail one, and oil to make his face shine, and bread that holds up the heart of a frail one.“Strengtheneth” translates a form of סעד (s-ʿ-d), the same root behind “comfort” in Genesis 18:5. Psalm 104 makes the connection plain: bread itself supports the heart.
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