What Does Genesis 23:5 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Heth answered Abraham, saying unto 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
Before the answer says yes or no, this verse reveals that Abraham has been heard.
THE MEANING
Abraham receives a response from the children of Heth, and the content of their words is just opening. This verse holds the pause between being heard and knowing what comes back.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲנוּ
vayyaʿanu
GROWS FROM
ענה
to answer, respond
“answered” in this verse is vayyaʿanu. The same root appears both as the act of responding and as the reply that shapes what follows. English marks the action as finished; the root keeps it joined to the exchange still unfolding.
ALSO GROWS
ʿanah: to answer, respond
עָנָה
This verb names the return of speech that begins the exchange here.
maʿaneh: answer, reply
מַעֲנֶה
The same word family appears in Proverbs 15:1, where the kind of answer turns the exchange toward calm or anger.
חֵת
Ḥet
GROWS FROM
חתת
to break down, dismay, terrify
Heth’s name is traditionally linked to a root of dismay, so the phrase children of Heth carries an echo of people named through dread. The next verse gives their actual words, letting the name’s shade and their response sit together without reducing them to one meaning.
ALSO GROWS
ḥathath: to be shattered or dismayed
חָתַת
This verb gives the name’s traditional echo of being shaken.
meḥittah: terror, ruin
מְחִתָּה
This related noun carries the same root’s sense of dread or collapse.
THE PATTERN
An answer turns a received request into a shared exchange that can reshape what happens next.
Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, The thing proceedeth from the LORD: we cannot speak unto thee bad or good.A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.THE THREAD
Hear us, my lord: thou art a mighty prince among us: in the choice of our sepulchres bury thy dead; none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre, but that thou mayest bury thy dead.Verse 5 holds the answer at its threshold; the next verse reveals it as an offer of burial space. The pause becomes the moment a community makes room for Abraham’s grief.
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