What Does Genesis 18:5 Mean in the King James?
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.
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
Here, comfort arrives as bread: the Hebrew verb for supporting the heart shares its root with the word for a meal.
THE MEANING
Your heart can be sustained before the road resumes. Nourishment belongs within the journey: it steadies you, and then you pass on. Your arrival is received as worthy of care, not as an interruption.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
You do not have to choose between receiving care and continuing your way.
THE ROOT
וְסַעֲדוּ
wə-saʿadu
GROWS FROM
סעד
s-ʿ-d
Support, sustain, strengthen.
The verb translated “comfort” means “support” or “sustain.” סְעוּדָה (seʿudah, meal) comes from the same root, joining care for the heart to sustaining nourishment.
ALSO GROWS
saʿad: To support or sustain.
סָעַד
This is the action behind the verse’s “comfort”: the heart is upheld.
seʿudah: A meal or banquet.
סְעוּדָה
The same root links a meal with support, fitting the bread offered here.
תַּעֲבֹרוּ
taʿavru
GROWS FROM
עבר
ʿ-b-r
Cross over, pass through.
“pass on / come” in this verse is taʿavru. “Ye shall pass on” and “are ye come” are both forms of עבר (ʿ-b-r). English makes the arrival and departure sound unrelated; Hebrew holds them within one continuous passage, with the meal as support along the way.
ALSO GROWS
ʿever: The other side; beyond or across.
עֵבֶר
It preserves the root’s sense of movement across a boundary.
maʿavar: A crossing or passage.
מַעֲבָר
The meal falls within a passage that is already underway and continues afterward.
THE PATTERN
The way forward is sustained by receiving what strengthens the heart and body.
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you.THE THREAD
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.“Strengtheneth” translates a form of סעד (s-ʿ-d), the same root behind “comfort” in Genesis 18:5. Psalm 104 makes the connection plain: bread itself supports the heart.
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