What Does Genesis 24:56 Mean in the King James?

And he said unto them, Hinder me not, seeing the LORD hath prospered my way; send me away that I may go to my master.

Genesis 24:56 · 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

The path that has prospered still needs release: delay holds it back, and being sent forward completes its movement.

THE MEANING

Your way can be prospered while your movement is still held at the threshold. Delay keeps you behind; release is part of the provision that carries you onward. The verse speaks of a path already opened, whose next step is release into motion.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

This undoes the belief that remaining in place is always the faithful response to a prospered path. Here, provision includes departure and movement forward.

THE ROOT

שַׁלְּחוּנִי

shalleḥuni

GROWS FROM

שׁלח

sh-l-ḥ

send, send forth, release, let go

“send me away” in this verse is shalleḥuni. The request is to be released into movement, not merely dismissed. The same root appears again when the travelers are sent away, turning the request into the act that carries the journey forward.

ALSO GROWS

shaliaḥ: messenger; one who is sent

שָׁלִיחַ

The messenger’s identity is carried in being sent, echoing how release here sets a journey in motion.

Shiloach: sent; the name associated with the waters of Shiloah

שִׁלֹחַ

The name is linked to sending, extending this root’s image of movement outward.

תְּאַחֲרוּ

te’aḥaru

GROWS FROM

אחר

ʾ-ḥ-r

be after or behind; delay

“hinder” in this verse is te’aḥaru. The Hebrew word for delaying shares its root with being after or behind. The obstacle is a hold that keeps the traveler back from the next step.

ALSO GROWS

aḥar: after, behind

אַחַר

The root makes delay sound like being kept in what is behind.

aḥarit: latter part, end, outcome

אַחֲרִית

This branch also looks toward what comes after, sharpening the verse’s contrast between delay and onward movement.

הִצְלִיחַ

hiṣlîaḥ

GROWS FROM

צלח

ṣ-l-ḥ

advance, make progress, prosper

“prospered” in this verse is hiṣlîaḥ. Prosperity here carries the sense of a way advancing. The request to be released continues that movement; departure is not separate from the prospering path but its next step.

ALSO GROWS

ṣālaḥ: advance, succeed, prosper

צָלַח

The basic verb gives “prospered” the feel of progress along a way.

haṣlaḥah: success, prosperity

הַצְלָחָה

This related form preserves the connection between prosperity and forward progress.

THE PATTERN

When a way is opened for a purpose, sending releases movement so delay does not hold it back.

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

Genesis 45:5 · KJVGod’s sending gives Joseph’s movement a purpose that preserves life.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

Exodus 8:1 · KJVRelease opens the people’s movement toward the purpose named in the verse.

Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

John 20:21 · KJVThe Father’s sending becomes a pattern of onward movement that extends to those Jesus sends.

THE THREAD

And they sent away Rebekah their sister, and her nurse, and Abraham’s servant, and his men.

Genesis 24:59 · KJV

The request “send me away” (⁨שַׁלְּחוּנִי⁩, shalleḥuni, send or release me) is answered three verses later by “they sent away” (⁨וַיְשַׁלְּחוּ⁩, vayshalleḥu, they sent away), repeating the root ⁨שׁלח⁩ (shalach, send or release). What begins as a request becomes the concrete release that carries Rebekah’s journey forward.

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