What Does Exodus 12:36 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them such things as they required. And they spoiled the Egyptians.
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
The same Hebrew root can name rescue and stripping bare: this release leaves Egypt emptied and the people supplied.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s favor becomes concrete in what reaches your hands: what you need for the passage out is given, and the power of the narrow place is left depleted. Deliverance touches the conditions of life, not only the fact of departure; you are not sent out empty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that escape from bondage must leave you empty-handed, or that deliverance is only inward.
THE ROOT
וַיְנַצְּלוּ
vayenatslu
GROWS FROM
נצל
natsal
To snatch away, taking something out of another’s grasp.
“spoiled” in this verse is vayenatslu. The root can name rescue as taking someone out of a grip and despoiling as taking a holder’s goods away; both turn on removal from possession. The people are drawn out of Mitzrayim (מִצְרַיִם, Mitzrayim, “the two narrows”), while the constricting power is stripped of what they need to leave.
ALSO GROWS
hitzil: Rescue, deliver.
הִצִּיל
The same root names the people being taken out of Egypt’s grip.
vayenatslu: Strip, despoil.
וַיְנַצְּלוּ
This is the form in the verse: Egypt is stripped as the people receive what they need for their departure.
וַיַּשְׁאִלֻם
vayyash'ilum
GROWS FROM
שׁאל
sha'al
To ask or request; in this form, to lend by letting another ask.
The word rendered “lent” grows from the root for asking and requesting: what the Egyptians give is what the people ask for. The transfer is not an abstract favor; it answers a concrete need.
ALSO GROWS
sha'al: Ask, request.
שָׁאַל
This is the root’s basic action, held inside the verse’s act of lending.
she'elah: A request, petition.
שְׁאֵלָה
The branch keeps the people’s request visible beneath the English word “lent.”
חֵן
chen
GROWS FROM
חנן
chanan
To show favor, to be gracious.
“favour” in this verse is chen. Favor here opens into action: the people receive tangible goods. The root also describes graciousness, showing favor as something extended rather than merely felt.
ALSO GROWS
chanan: Show favor, be gracious.
חָנַן
The root’s verb form makes favor an act, matching the LORD’s giving in the verse.
channun: Gracious.
חַנּוּן
This related form describes the quality behind favor that becomes provision.
THE PATTERN
When someone comes out of bondage or lack, restoration is tangible: they are not left empty but receive what sustains them.
And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:And when thou sendest him out free from thee, thou shalt not let him go away empty: Thou shalt furnish him liberally out of thy flock, and out of thy floor, and out of thy winepress: of that wherewith the LORD thy God hath blessed thee thou shalt give unto him.But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:THE THREAD
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.Exodus 3:22 names the goods as what the women borrow, from שׁאל (sha’al, ask or request), then uses נצל (natsal, strip or despoil) for what happens to Egypt. Exodus 12:36 repeats both roots, joining the requested goods and Egypt’s stripping into one connected movement of release.
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