What Does Genesis 43:32 Mean?
And they set out for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, who ate with him, by themselves, for the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is a recoiling thing to the Egyptians.
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 they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.THE KEY
One Hebrew root for being alone is repeated across all three groups, so the boundary is built into the seating before anyone eats.
THE MEANING
You can be close enough to share a room and still remain outside another group’s table. Here, each party is served apart, and the stated reason is the Egyptians’ revulsion at eating with the Hebrews.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being present at the same meal does not guarantee shared belonging; the arrangement can expose exclusion where proximity might suggest fellowship.
THE ROOT
לְבַדּוֹ
ləvaddō
GROWS FROM
בדד
b-d-d
to be alone, apart, or solitary
“by himself / by themselves” in this verse is ləvaddō. English preserves the repeated “by himself/by themselves,” but Hebrew uses forms of one apartness-root for Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. The shared root makes separation the meal’s governing arrangement, not a passing detail.
ALSO GROWS
bādād: alone, solitary
בָּדָד
This form shows the root’s basic sense: each group occupies its own space at the meal.
ləvaḏ: apart, alone
לְבַד
This form appears within לְבַדּוֹ and לְבַדָּם, tying the three separate placements to one repeated idea.
תּוֹעֵבָה
tōʿēvāh
GROWS FROM
תעב
t-ʿ-b
to abhor or regard with revulsion
“a recoiling thing” in this verse is tōʿēvāh. The word names more than a seating custom: the stated boundary is grounded in abhorrence. Its root connects the act of abhorring with the thing regarded as detestable, making revulsion the force behind this separation.
ALSO GROWS
tāʿav: to abhor, detest
תָּעַב
The verb names the response that underlies the noun used for what is considered an abomination.
tōʿăvōt: abhorrences, detestable things
תּוֹעֲבוֹת
This plural form carries the same judgment into a category of things regarded as abhorrent, showing how revulsion can become a shared boundary.
THE PATTERN
Food and communal practices make the boundaries of belonging visible in who is received together and who is kept apart.
And Moses said, It does not stand to do so; for we shall slaughter the loathed thing of the Egyptians to the LORD our God; behold, shall we slaughter the loathed thing before their eyes, and will they not stone us?For before some came from James, he ate together with the nations. But when they came, he drew back and marked himself off, fearing those from the circumcision.For in eating, each one seizes his own supper before the others, and one is hungry while another is drunk.THE THREAD
You shall say, Your servants have been men of livestock from our youth until now, both we and also our fathers, so that you may settle in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is something the Egyptians recoil from.The same Hebrew noun תּוֹעֵבָה (tōʿēvāh, an abhorrent thing) describes how the Egyptians regard shepherds. The shared root links the separated meal to a wider boundary: revulsion shapes who can share space and where another group may live.
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