What Does Exodus 1:1 Mean in the King James?
Now these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם, mitsrayim: the two narrows) receives Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisra’el: the one who wrestles with God) still named and gathered as households.
THE MEANING
When you enter a constricted place, you remain a named person within a household; Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיְמָה, mitsraymah: into Egypt, the two narrows) does not make those arriving anonymous. Israel (יִשְׂרָאֵל, Yisra’el: the one who wrestles with God) comes with Jacob, each household still held in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that entering a constricted season makes you anonymous and alone.
THE ROOT
הַבָּאִים
ha-ba'im
GROWS FROM
בוא
bo: come, enter, arrive.
“came” in this verse is ha-ba'im. The Hebrew הַבָּאִים (ha-ba’im, those coming) is a participle from בוא (bo, to come or enter), presenting the family through its movement into Egypt. The same root appears in מָבוֹא (mavo, entrance), making the arrival a threshold: the people enter while remaining named and gathered.
ALSO GROWS
mavo: Entrance, entryway
מָבוֹא
This noun from בוא makes the arrival read as crossing a threshold.
yavo: He will come, he will enter
יָבוֹא
The same root carries entry as movement still unfolding.
בֵּיתוֹ
beito
GROWS FROM
בית
bayit: house, dwelling, household.
The word translated household is בֵּיתוֹ (beito, his house), so its center is a house rather than an abstract family unit. The same בית image stretches from a dwelling to the father’s house and its members, keeping home and kinship joined.
ALSO GROWS
bayit: House, dwelling
בַּיִת
The basic noun lets the reader hear the house inside the English word household.
beit-av: Father’s house, paternal household
בֵּית־אָב
This compound carries the same house into the language of kinship and belonging.
THE PATTERN
Across transitions, scripture keeps a people visible through names, kindred, and households.
And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of their fathers, with the number of their names, every male by their polls;Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls.THE THREAD
And these are the names of the children of Israel, which came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.The phrase which came into Egypt uses the same Hebrew root בוא (bo, come or enter) as Exodus 1:1. Genesis names the entry; Exodus returns to it, keeping the same people in view as a household.
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