What Does Genesis 24:23 Mean in the King James?

And said, Whose daughter art thou? tell me, I pray thee: is there room in thy father’s house for us to lodge in?

Genesis 24:23 · KJV

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

In Hebrew, “room” is a place to stand: welcome begins when someone else can find a place in the household.

THE MEANING

Belonging meets you in the concrete question of whether there is room for you within a household. The verse joins who you come from with whether a place can be made for another person to stay. Welcome becomes tangible as space someone can occupy.

THE ROOT

מָקוֹם

maqom

GROWS FROM

קום

qum

To rise or stand.

The word translated “room” is ⁨מָקוֹם⁩ (maqom), meaning “place,” formed from ⁨קום⁩ (qum), meaning “rise” or “stand.” The question is whether there is a place in the household where a visitor can settle and remain.

ALSO GROWS

qam: stood or rose

קָם

This verb shows the root’s basic action: taking a stand or rising.

heqim: raised up or established

הֵקִים

A place is where someone can be set or established; the question makes hospitality a matter of giving another person a place.

THE PATTERN

A household’s welcome becomes visible in the actual place it makes for a visitor.

Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set for him there a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick: and it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in thither.

2 Kings 4:10 · KJVWelcome takes shape as a room deliberately prepared for someone who visits.

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:

Matthew 25:35 · KJVReceiving a stranger becomes a concrete expression of care.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2 · KJVThe verse treats hospitality toward strangers as an opening that can hold more than the host expects.

THE THREAD

And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.

Genesis 28:11 · KJV

Genesis 24:23 asks whether there is a ⁨מָקוֹם⁩ (maqom, place) in the father’s house where the visitors can lodge. Genesis 28:11 uses that same word for the place where Jacob settles for the night, making “place” the ground where someone can stop and remain.

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