What Does Genesis 24:32 Mean in the King James?
And the man came into the house: and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men’s feet that were with 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
The text makes welcome a kind of opening: the camels are unfastened, then food, water, and washing are placed within reach of the whole company.
THE MEANING
Welcome meets the actual needs of arrival: feed for the animals, water for tired feet, and care for the people traveling together. The care reaches beyond the central guest to everyone with him.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that welcome is only a polite gesture toward the person at the center dissolves here: care reaches his companions and the animals carrying them too.
THE ROOT
וַיְפַתַּח
wayfattaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
pātaḥ
Open, loosen, unfasten.
The verb translated “ungirded” carries the sense of opening or loosening. It shares its root with the word for a doorway: welcome is pictured as opening the home and loosening what the travelers carry.
ALSO GROWS
petaḥ: An entrance or opening.
פֶּתַח
The same root that describes unfastening the camels also names the opening through which a guest enters.
pittūaḥ: An engraved design.
פִּתּוּחַ
The root also describes opening a surface to make a design; here, opening becomes a concrete act that makes room for rest and care.
לִרְחֹץ
lirḥōṣ
GROWS FROM
רחץ
rāḥaṣ
Wash, bathe.
The same root appears in Abraham’s offer of water to wash visitors’ feet in Genesis 18:4. Here the gesture reaches both the arriving man and the men with him, making welcome an act of care for the whole company.
ALSO GROWS
reḥīṣāh: The act of washing.
רְחִיצָה
The root turns the water from a general provision into a specific act of bodily care.
rōḥēṣ: Someone who washes.
רֹחֵץ
The action is directed toward both the traveler and his companions, so the care is shared across the group.
וַיִּתֵּן
wayyitten
GROWS FROM
נתן
nātan
Give, set, place.
“gave” in this verse is wayyitten. This root carries the sense of giving by setting something within reach. The straw, fodder, and water are not abstract kindness; each is placed where a body or animal can receive it.
ALSO GROWS
mattānāh: A gift or present.
מַתָּנָה
Provision becomes a gift when what is needed is given to those who have arrived.
netīnāh: The act of giving.
נְתִינָה
The root links generosity with a concrete act of placing food and water before the travelers and their animals.
THE PATTERN
Welcome becomes real through provision that attends to the needs of everyone who arrives.
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: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:Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality.THE THREAD
Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:The same Hebrew root רחץ (rāḥaṣ, wash) appears in both verses. Abraham offers water for visitors’ feet; here the washing extends to the arriving man’s companions too, showing the same welcome reaching the whole traveling company.
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