What Does Genesis 24:20 Mean in the King James?
And she hasted, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
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 pitcher empties, and that emptying sends her back to the source instead of ending the act of provision.
THE MEANING
This verse shows care as a return: she empties the pitcher, goes back to the well, and draws again until the camels have water. What she releases becomes provision for another’s thirst, and the empty vessel is followed by another reach toward the source.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that an empty vessel means there is nothing more to give.
THE ROOT
וַתָּעַר
vatta'ar
GROWS FROM
ערה
'arah
Pour out; uncover or make bare.
“emptied” in this verse is vatta'ar. The verb comes from a root that holds pouring out and uncovering together. Her emptying is a release, and the verse immediately shows her returning to draw again.
ALSO GROWS
'ervah: Nakedness; exposure, what is laid bare.
עֶרְוָה
This related word carries the root’s sense of uncovering, bringing the hidden link between emptying and laying bare into view.
ye'areh: Be poured out; poured upon.
יֵעָרֶה
Isaiah uses this related form for what is poured out from on high, showing the root’s image of release as provision.
THE PATTERN
Provision moves outward through repeated release until it reaches the need in front of it.
And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed.The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.THE THREAD
Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest.Genesis uses ערה (‘arah, to pour out or uncover) for the water released from the pitcher; Isaiah uses its related form יֵעָרֶה (ye’areh, be poured out) with רוּחַ (ruach, breath) poured from on high. In Genesis, the release meets the camels’ thirst; in Isaiah, it turns wilderness into fruitful land.
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