What Does Genesis 11:27 Mean in the King James?

Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

Genesis 11:27 · KJV

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 verse names these “generations” and then repeats the same root in “begat”: a family line is what has been brought forth.

THE MEANING

Your present is held within relationships and continuities that began before you; what comes forth from one life enters another’s story. Here, Terah’s line branches through Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran’s continues through Lot.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a person is self-originating and self-contained; this verse places each name within a line of what has been brought forth.

THE ROOT

תּוֹלְדֹת

toledot

GROWS FROM

ילד

To bear, beget, bring forth.

“Generations” and both instances of “begat” grow from the same root, ⁨ילד⁩. The verse’s family record is therefore framed as what is brought forth and continues through a line.

ALSO GROWS

holid: Beget; cause to be born.

הוֹלִיד

This is the verb translated “begat” in the verse, repeating the root beneath “generations.”

yeled: Child.

יֶלֶד

This word names one who is brought forth, making the root’s link between a generation and its children visible.

THE PATTERN

A person’s story is introduced through the line they come from and what is brought forth through them.

This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him;

Genesis 5:1 · KJVThe same generations formula frames Adam’s account through what follows from him.

And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

Genesis 25:19 · KJVThe generations heading and “begat” again pair the line’s origin with what it brings forth.

The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Matthew 1:1 · KJVThe opening frames the account through a line of descent, carrying the pattern into the New Testament.

THE THREAD

And these are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son: Abraham begat Isaac:

Genesis 25:19 · KJV

Genesis 25:19 uses the same “generations” word and the same ⁨ילד⁩ root in “begat.” Their pairing shows that the heading is more than a list of names: it marks what is brought forth through a line.

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