What Does Genesis 25:20 Mean in the King James?

And Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian of Padan-aram, the sister to Laban the Syrian.

Genesis 25:20 · 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.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Isaac’s name carries laughter into a verse that otherwise reads like a family record.

THE MEANING

This verse places you at a threshold where age, marriage, family, and place meet in one bond. Rebekah’s kinship is named alongside her, while Isaac’s name carries laughter into the scene before the next generation appears.

THE ROOT

יִצְחָק

Yitsḥaq

GROWS FROM

צחק

tsachaq

To laugh; laughter.

English gives Isaac as a proper name, while Hebrew retains the sound and sense of laughter inside it. The same root names Sarah’s laughter and appears in the description of Isaac laughing with Rebekah, carrying laughter through this family bond.

ALSO GROWS

tsechoq: Laughter

צְחֹק

Sarah’s words in Genesis 21:6 use this root, making the laughter inside Isaac’s name audible.

metzaḥeq: Laughing; playing

מְצַחֵק

In Genesis 26:8, this form describes Isaac laughing with Rebekah, letting the root in his name surface in their relationship.

THE PATTERN

A name can carry a defining action forward through the story.

And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

Genesis 21:6 · KJVSarah names the laughter that is carried in Isaac’s name.

And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.

Genesis 17:19 · KJVIsaac’s name is given within the promise that sets his life and descendants in view.

And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 1:21 · KJVThe reason for the name is spoken alongside it, joining the name to the action it carries.

THE THREAD

And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me.

Genesis 21:6 · KJV

Sarah’s words use the same laughter-root carried in Isaac’s name. The name in Genesis 25:20 thus carries the sound of laughter into the account of his marriage.

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