What Does Genesis 15:16 Mean in the King James?
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.
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
“Full” is שָׁלֵם (shalem), meaning complete or whole, the same root that gives שָׁלוֹם (shalom), wholeness, so the verse describes crookedness that has not yet reached its measure.
THE MEANING
The line holds a present tension: harm can be real without yet having reached its full measure. Delay is not described as approval; the verse distinguishes unfinished crookedness from its eventual completion.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A delay in reckoning does not mean wrongdoing is unseen or approved; the verse allows for a measure that is not yet complete.
THE ROOT
שָׁלֵם
shalem
GROWS FROM
שלם
To be complete, whole, or brought to its full measure.
The verse says the Amorites’ crookedness is not yet complete, not that it is absent. The same three consonants appear in שָׁלוֹם (shalom, wholeness) and שִׁלֵּם (shillem, to repay or make complete), so “full” carries the sense of a measure reaching its settled end.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness; peace
שָׁלוֹם
The shared root links being complete with a state of wholeness.
shillem: To repay; make restitution
שִׁלֵּם
Repayment brings an outstanding account to completion, another way the root expresses a measure being settled.
THE PATTERN
Scripture depicts a measure as real before it is complete, with action arriving when that measure reaches its fullness.
And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.THE THREAD
So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the LORD. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the LORD.The Hebrew verb וַתִּשְׁלַם (vattishlam, was completed) comes from the same root שלם (shalem) as “full” in Genesis. There the root marks work brought to completion; here it marks crookedness that has not yet reached its measure.
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