What Does Genesis 20:9 Mean in the King James?
Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done.
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
“Offended” and “great sin” grow from the same Hebrew root, revealing how one person’s missing can be carried by an entire kingdom.
THE MEANING
The ruler whose name means “my father is king” names a consequence that reaches his whole kingdom: a wrong hidden for self-protection can make others carry its danger. The verse speaks now wherever a private act is treated as though its effects stop at the self. Its language is severe: this is a great missing, not a harmless misstep.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief this verse undoes is that concealment keeps the cost confined to the person who chooses it.
THE ROOT
חָטָאתִי
ḥāṭāʾtî
GROWS FROM
חטא
ḥ-ṭ-ʾ
To miss, go wrong, or incur a wrong.
“offended / sin” in this verse is ḥāṭāʾtî. The question translated “what have I offended thee?” uses the same חטא family as “a great sin” brought upon the kingdom. English gives the two forms different words, while Hebrew binds the personal offense and the kingdom-wide missing together.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāṭāʾ: To miss or do wrong; to sin.
חָטָא
This verb stands behind Abimelech’s question about what he has done wrong to Abraham.
ḥaṭṭāʾt: Sin or missing; also a sin offering.
חַטָּאת
This noun form names the “great sin” laid upon the king and his kingdom.
מַמְלַכְתִּי
mamlakhtî
GROWS FROM
מלך
m-l-k
To reign or be king.
“kingdom / Abimelech” in this verse is mamlakhtî. Abimelech’s name means “my father is king,” and the word for “kingdom” shares its מלך root. His name and the realm he says is endangered belong to one word family, binding the ruler to the public consequences he names.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King.
מֶלֶךְ
This is the king element in Abimelech’s name, placing the speaker’s nature inside the charge.
mamlākhāh: Kingdom or dominion.
מַמְלָכָה
This is the word family behind “my kingdom,” the community Abimelech says is exposed to the wrong.
THE PATTERN
A concealed wrong can spread beyond the person who acts and place a whole community under its consequences.
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?THE THREAD
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.Genesis 4:7 names sin with חַטָּאת (ḥaṭṭāʾt, “sin/missing”), the same root family behind “offended” and “great sin” here. There the missing is pictured at the threshold; here its reach is named in a person and a kingdom.
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