What Does Genesis 21:20 Mean in the King James?
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer.
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 boy’s growth does not wait for the wilderness to end: גדל (g-d-l; gadal), “to grow, become great,” holds both movements in one root.
THE MEANING
The verse holds your wilderness and your becoming together: God’s presence is with you as growth unfolds. The boy’s life takes shape there as concrete skill, while the wilderness remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a hard, exposed place means God is absent or that growth must wait until you leave it.
THE ROOT
וַיִּגְדָּל
wayyigdal
GROWS FROM
גדל
Grow, increase, become great.
English “grew” can sound like mere passage of time; גדל also names becoming great, carrying growth as increase and stature. The boy’s development becomes visible in the concrete skill of archery, even as he remains in the wilderness.
ALSO GROWS
gadol: Great, large
גָּדוֹל
This adjective shares גדל, revealing growth and greatness as forms of the same movement toward stature.
migdal: Tower
מִגְדָּל
A tower rises into view, making the root’s movement toward stature tangible.
THE PATTERN
God’s presence stays with a person inside wilderness or danger, before the circumstances change.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.THE THREAD
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:The root גדל (g-d-l; gadal), meaning “grow, become great,” appears in this verse’s “grew” and in Genesis 12:2’s “great” (גָּדוֹל, gadol). Here the movement takes shape in a boy’s growth; there, in the promised scale of a nation.
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