What Does Genesis 11:17 Mean in the King James?
And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty 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
The name of division sits inside a lineage where the Hebrew verb for bringing forth keeps sounding again.
THE MEANING
Life here does not stop at one beginning: after Peleg is brought forth, Eber’s years continue and sons and daughters follow. The verse lets you see duration as generative, while Peleg’s name carries a second note of division within that continuing line.
THE ROOT
פֶּלֶג
peleg
GROWS FROM
פלג
p-l-g
To divide or split into parts.
This root can name both division and a channel of flowing water. Peleg’s name carries division within a family line that keeps flowing forward.
ALSO GROWS
peleg: A stream or channel.
פֶּלֶג
The same word-shape that names division can also describe water moving through a channel.
nifleghah: Was divided.
נִפְלְגָה
This form appears in the description of the earth being divided in Peleg’s days, making the name’s connection explicit.
וַיּוֹלֶד
vayoled
GROWS FROM
ילד
yalad
To bear or bring forth.
“begat” in this verse is vayoled. The verb first brings forth Peleg, then returns for the sons and daughters. The same root also forms the word for generations, so bringing forth already contains the idea of a continuing line.
ALSO GROWS
yeled: Child.
יֶלֶד
The child is what the act of bringing forth produces.
toledot: Generations, descendants, or the account of what is brought forth.
תּוֹלְדוֹת
The root stretches from one birth into the unfolding record of a lineage.
THE PATTERN
Life continues by bringing forth what can carry life onward.
And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters:And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.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
And unto Eber were born two sons: the name of one was Peleg; for in his days was the earth divided; and his brother’s name was Joktan.This verse explicitly connects Peleg’s name with the earth being divided, from the root פלג (p-l-g), meaning to divide. That name sits within Eber’s continuing line of children, holding division and ongoing life together.
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