What Does Genesis 37:20 Mean?
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and throw him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him, and we will see what becomes of his dreams.
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
Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.THE KEY
The brothers’ planned cover story returns almost word for word in Jacob’s mouth, making their lie the language of his grief.
THE MEANING
Here, a threatened life becomes the center of a plan: the brothers intend a killing, a pit, and a fabricated animal attack. Their chosen words return in Jacob’s later response, carrying the deception beyond the physical act and into a father’s grief. Their closing question exposes the conclusion they want: that a dream’s future can be settled by making its bearer disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that removing the dreamer gives anyone final authority over what becomes of the dream.
THE ROOT
אֲכָלָתְהוּ
ʾakhalat-hu
GROWS FROM
אכל
ʾ-kh-l
Eat, consume.
The Hebrew phrase is plainly “an evil beast has eaten him”; English renders the ordinary verb “eat” as “devoured.” The same verb returns in Jacob’s later repetition in Genesis 37:33, so the brothers’ planned lie becomes the language of his grief.
ALSO GROWS
ʾākhal: To eat, consume.
אָכַל
This is the verb behind the brothers’ chosen explanation, which Jacob later repeats.
ʾōkhel: Food, something eaten.
אֹכֶל
The same root names both consuming and what is consumed, giving the false report its concrete image of a body made prey.
THE PATTERN
A human plot can bring real harm, but it cannot guarantee the outcome it intends.
As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, to make it as it is this day, to keep a great people alive.The LORD breaks the counsel of nations; he undoes the plans of peoples.But if it is of God, you cannot undo them, lest perhaps you be found even fighting against God.THE THREAD
And he perceived it, and said, It is my son's coat. An evil beast has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.The brothers script חַיָּה רָעָה אֲכָלָתְהוּ (ḥayyāh rāʿāh ʾakhalat-hu, “an evil beast has eaten him”) here, and Jacob later repeats the phrase. The shared root אכל (ʾ-kh-l, “eat”) shows the lie working as intended: it gives Jacob the words by which he understands the loss.
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