What Does Genesis 46:31 Mean?
And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's house, I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
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 said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and shew Pharaoh, and say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, which were in the land of Canaan, are come unto me;THE KEY
Joseph carries his family’s arrival into Pharaoh’s hearing, where “my brethren” makes belonging part of the announcement.
THE MEANING
Joseph names both who has arrived and how they are related to him. Their arrival becomes visible before Pharaoh as more than a change of place: it is a family entering the story under Joseph’s name of kinship. The verse lets you see private belonging spoken into public view.
THE ROOT
וְאַגִּידָה
ve’agidah
GROWS FROM
נגד
n-g-d
To tell or declare; the root also carries the sense of making something known or putting it before someone.
“tell” in this verse is ve’agidah. Joseph’s word means that he will declare his family before Pharaoh. The Hebrew root also appears in words for what is in front or someone who stands at the front, so the announcement places their identity visibly before power.
ALSO GROWS
neged: In front of; opposite.
נֶגֶד
The family is brought before Pharaoh’s attention through Joseph’s declaration.
nagid: Leader; ruler.
נָגִיד
This related word for a leader echoes the image of someone standing at the front, as Joseph speaks for his family before the king.
בָּאוּ
ba’u
GROWS FROM
בוא
b-w-ʾ
To come in, enter, or arrive.
“are come” in this verse is ba’u. The family is described as having entered Joseph’s presence: their movement ends in relation to him. The same root forms words for an entrance and for produce that comes in, opening “come” into the idea of crossing into a place and what arrives there.
ALSO GROWS
mevo: Entrance; entryway.
מְבוֹא
An entrance is where coming in takes place, giving the family’s arrival the shape of crossing a threshold.
tevu’ah: Produce; yield.
תְּבוּאָה
The word can name what comes in as a yield, extending the root’s sense of arrival into what enters and becomes present.
THE PATTERN
A newcomer’s belonging becomes visible when someone names both who has arrived and how they came.
Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan, and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully told to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and walked to a people you did not know yesterday or the day before.But Barnabas took hold of him and led him to the sent ones, and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, and that he had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken openly in the nature of Jesus.THE THREAD
And Boaz answered and said to her, It has been fully told to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, and how you left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and walked to a people you did not know yesterday or the day before.Ruth’s verse echoes both roots in Joseph’s announcement: נגד (n-g-d, tell or declare) and בוא (b-w-ʾ, come or enter). Joseph says he will declare who has come to him; Boaz names what has been told about Ruth and how she has come among a people.
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