What Does Genesis 39:20 Mean?
And Joseph's master took him, and placed him in the prison, the place where the king's prisoners were bound; and there he was in the prison.
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 Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.THE KEY
The Hebrew calls the king’s prisoners and their being bound by forms of the same root, doubling the image of binding around Joseph.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with the fact of being taken by another and placed in confinement, without supplying an explanation or resolution. It repeats the binding language around Joseph: the king’s prisoners are bound, and Joseph is there in their prison. The scene holds constraint plainly instead of pretending it is already over.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being confined does not make a person guilty; Joseph is placed in prison, but the verse names what is done to him, not a verdict on his character.
THE ROOT
אֲסִירֵי
asirei
GROWS FROM
אסר
To bind, tie, or fasten.
The noun translated “prisoners” (אֲסִירֵי, asirei, “prisoners”) and the participle translated “bound” (אֲסוּרִים, asurim, “bound”) both grow from אסר (ʾ-s-r / asar, “to bind”). English uses separate labels, while Hebrew repeats one seed: this place is defined through binding.
ALSO GROWS
asir: Prisoner; one held or bound.
אָסִיר
This is the form behind “prisoners”; the person is named by the binding that confines them.
asur: Bound, tied, or held.
אָסוּר
This is the state repeated in the verse; Hebrew makes the prisoners’ restraint audible beside their identity as prisoners.
שָׁם
sham
GROWS FROM
שם
sh-m
There, in that place.
The verse closes by repeating that Joseph is “there” in the prison. This small word keeps the scene with him in confinement rather than moving ahead to an unseen resolution.
ALSO GROWS
sham: There; in that place.
שָׁם
Its repetition anchors Joseph in the place where the verse has put him.
misham: From there; from that place.
מִשָּׁם
This related form marks movement away from a location, sharpening how firmly this verse leaves Joseph “there.”
THE PATTERN
Confinement is expressed through binding, while release appears as loosening, opening, or breaking the restraint.
Who makes judgment for the pressed, who gives bread to the hungry. The LORD loosens the bound.The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.And suddenly there came a great shaking, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and at once all the doors were opened, and every one's bonds were untied.THE THREAD
The breath of the Lord LORD is upon me, for the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the bowed ones; he has sent me to bind up the broken of heart, to proclaim flowing freedom to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are chained.“Them that are bound” is אֲסוּרִים (asurim, “bound”), from אסר (ʾ-s-r / asar, “to bind”), the same root heard around Joseph. There, this binding word stands beside liberty and the opening of prison, echoing release without pretending Joseph is already out.
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