What Does Genesis 26:27 Mean in the King James?
And Isaac said unto them, Wherefore come ye to me, seeing ye hate me, and have sent me away from you?
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 same verb can mean sending forth or releasing, but here the sending is rejection, and their return does not undo it.
THE MEANING
The encounter holds two facts together: you are facing those who hated you and sent you away, and they are now coming to you. Their approach does not erase the rejection; it brings the contradiction into view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being sought now means you were never truly rejected.
THE ROOT
וַתְּשַׁלְּחוּנִי
vat’shalleḥuni
GROWS FROM
שלח
To send forth, release, or let go.
“sent me away” in this verse is vat’shalleḥuni. The root can carry both release and expulsion: being sent forth can open a way, or it can cut someone off. Here the question makes the rejection unmistakable, even as those who sent Isaac away come near again.
ALSO GROWS
shilluaḥ: Sending away; dismissal.
שִׁלּוּחַ
This branch makes the force of “sent me away” concrete: it is an act of expulsion from the relationship.
Shiloach: Sent waters; the pool of Siloam.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same send-forth root names the waters associated with restored sight; here it names a sending that wounds rather than restores.
יִצְחָק
Yitzḥaq
GROWS FROM
צחק
To laugh.
Isaac’s name carries laughter into this charged encounter. It does not cancel the accusation; it holds the possibility of laughter beside the memory of being sent away.
ALSO GROWS
tseḥoq: Laughter.
צְחוֹק
The noun makes the laughter in Isaac’s name visible as a quality, not merely a label.
metsacheq: Laughing or playing.
מְצַחֵק
This form shows the root as an action, placing laughter alongside the actions of hatred and expulsion in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Coming near does not erase rejection; it brings what happened into the open.
And Jephthah said unto the elders of Gilead, Did not ye hate me, and expel me out of my father’s house? and why are ye come unto me now when ye are in distress?And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.He came unto his own, and his own received him not.THE THREAD
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.“Let my people go” uses the same root, שלח, as “sent me away.” The root carries sending forth and release, while this verse names a sending that expels; the relationship between those meanings depends on what the sending opens or cuts off.
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