What Does Genesis 13:2 Mean in the King James?
And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.
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
Hebrew calls Abram “heavy” with wealth, using the same root that gives weight to the language of honor.
THE MEANING
A life can become heavy with what it holds: livestock, silver, and gold make abundance tangible. The Hebrew behind “very rich” uses the language of weight, joining material possessions to the deeper sense of what is weighty.
THE ROOT
כָּבֵד
kaved
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty; by extension, to be honored.
The phrase translated “very rich” literally carries the sense of being “heavy, exceedingly.” The same root gives the language of weight and honor, so material abundance and what is treated as weighty share one seed.
ALSO GROWS
kavod: Weight; honor or glory.
כָּבוֹד
This branch links the verse’s material abundance to the language of weight and honor.
kibbed: To honor, to treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
The verb shows that honor means giving weight to someone, the same root that describes Abram as rich.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses weight to speak of material abundance, relational honor, and spiritual significance.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;THE THREAD
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.The Hebrew verb כִּבֵּד (kibbed, honor or treat as weighty) belongs to the כבד (k-b-d, be heavy or weighty) root behind כָּבֵד (kaved, heavy), translated “very rich” in Genesis 13:2. Here the verse makes the hidden contrast explicit: honor carries weight, while contempt leaves someone lightly esteemed.
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