What Does Genesis 17:27 Mean in the King James?
And all the men of his house, born in the house, and bought with money of the stranger, were circumcised with him.
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 shared mark crosses the boundary of birth, while the verse keeps the purchased men’s unequal status in view.
THE MEANING
This verse holds covenant belonging and unequal status in the same frame. Every male in the household bears the mark with Abraham, while the purchased men remain identified by how they entered the household: through acquisition from a foreigner.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The covenant mark is only for those born within Abraham’s household; the verse includes men purchased from outside it.
THE ROOT
מִקְנַת
miqnat
GROWS FROM
קנה
To acquire, buy, or possess.
The term behind “bought” belongs to the קנה (q-n-h, acquire or buy) family, which also names acquired possessions. The rite includes these men in the same mark as Abraham, while the wording keeps their purchase visible as the terms of their place in the household.
ALSO GROWS
qanah: To acquire or buy.
קָנָה
This verb names the acquisition that the verse gives as the purchased men’s route into the household.
miqneh: Property, livestock, or an acquired possession.
מִקְנֶה
This related noun keeps the material sense of acquisition beside the men’s participation in the covenant rite.
בֶּן־נֵכָר
ben-nekar
GROWS FROM
נכר
To distinguish, recognize, or regard as foreign.
“stranger” in this verse is ben-nekar. The phrase בֶּן־נֵכָר (ben-nekar, foreigner or son of a foreigner) keeps the men’s outside origin legible. The same root links foreignness with being distinguished or recognized, so the shared mark reaches people whose difference the verse still names.
ALSO GROWS
nokri: Foreigner; foreign.
נָכְרִי
This related word names someone from outside the household or land, echoing the purchased men’s stated origin.
hikkir: To recognize or identify.
הִכִּיר
This form of the root carries the sense of distinguishing someone, matching the verse’s explicit naming of foreign origin.
THE PATTERN
Covenant belonging extends across differences of origin and status through a shared sign or identity.
And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him.And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.THE THREAD
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.Exodus uses the same Hebrew root, מוּל (mul, circumcise), while naming a stranger directly. It shows the mark extending beyond those born within the household: the sojourner who bears it participates in the Passover as one born in the land.
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