What Does Genesis 11:11 Mean in the King James?
And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.
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
A life has two measures here: the years it inhabits and the generations it sets in motion.
THE MEANING
Your life has a span, yet its reach is not confined to that span. The verse joins being alive with bringing forth life, so continuity belongs to the picture of living.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a life’s reach ends at the boundary of the years one personally inhabits.
THE ROOT
וַיְחִי
wayḥî
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥ-y-h
To live; to be alive.
English makes “lived” sound like a measure of time alone, but this root also names the living and life itself. Here, the years lived stand beside life brought forth: duration and generativity belong to the same picture.
ALSO GROWS
ḥay: Living; alive.
חַי
The same root turns “lived” into a quality of being alive, not only a count of years.
ḥayyim: Life; living.
חַיִּים
This branch makes visible the shared Hebrew seed beneath “lived” and “life.”
הוֹלִידוֹ
hôlîdô
GROWS FROM
ילד
y-l-d
To bear, beget, or bring forth.
The English “begat” can sound like a single act, while ילד also supplies the word for “child” and תּוֹלְדוֹת (toledot), “generations” or “descendants.” The root makes bringing forth an opening into a continuing line.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
The act of begetting and the child belong to the same root, joining the one who brings forth with the life brought forth.
toledot: Generations; descendants.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
This branch reveals how the root of “begat” extends into the continuing record of generations.
THE PATTERN
Life carries forward through successive generations, by descendants and by what one generation passes to the next.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.Genesis 11:11 uses ילד (yalad, “bring forth”) for begetting; Isaiah 9:6 uses the same root in “a child is born.” Together, they reveal birth as the point where life crosses into another generation.
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