What Does Genesis 26:34 Mean in the King James?
And Esau was forty years old when he took to wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Bashemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite:
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 Hebrew verb וַיִּקַּח (vayyiqqaḥ, “and he took”) frames these marriages as a taking into shared life, while the verse keeps each woman’s people visible.
THE MEANING
A choice that joins lives also brings names, families, and peoples into the same household. Judith carries an echo of praise, and Bashemath an echo of fragrance; the verse preserves both women’s identities alongside their Hittite lineage. The bond is personal, but its reach includes more than the couple.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a committed relationship affects only the two people in it gives way here: the verse names each woman’s lineage as part of the bond.
THE ROOT
וַיִּקַּח אִשָּׁה
vayyiqqaḥ ishah
GROWS FROM
לקח
l-q-ḥ
to take or receive
“took to wife” in this verse is vayyiqqaḥ ishah. The verb for taking a wife grows from the same root as taking or receiving. A related word means instruction: what is taken in becomes part of what shapes a life together.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥ: to take or receive
לָקַח
This is the verb in the verse; marriage is expressed as taking someone into a shared life.
leqaḥ: instruction or teaching
לֶקַח
This related word suggests that what enters a life together also helps shape what is learned and carried forward.
בָּשְׂמַת
Basmat
GROWS FROM
בשם
b-ś-m
fragrance or aromatic spice
Bashemath’s name is linked with fragrance, a quality carried by the same Hebrew word family as spices. The name gives the verse a sensory note: a person is introduced with more than lineage alone.
ALSO GROWS
bōśem: fragrance or aromatic spice
בֹּשֶׂם
This word shares the name’s root and gives Bashemath’s name its fragrant association.
besāmīm: spices or aromatics
בְּשָׂמִים
The plural branch extends the same root into the gathered fragrances of spices.
יְהוּדִית
Yehudit
GROWS FROM
ידה
y-d-h
to praise or acknowledge
Judith is connected with Yehudah, Judah, whose name is associated with praise. The verse’s two names therefore carry distinct echoes: praise and fragrance, alongside the women’s shared Hittite identity.
ALSO GROWS
Yehudah: Judah; a name associated with praise
יְהוּדָה
Judith echoes this name and its praise association.
todah: thanksgiving or praise
תּוֹדָה
This word grows from the same root and makes the praise connection audible.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents marriage as a joining whose reach can include family ties, lineage, and allegiance.
And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell:Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.THE THREAD
And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?The phrase “take a wife” repeats the root לקח (l-q-ḥ, “take or receive”), linking Esau’s marriages with Rebekah’s distress over the same people. The shared verb makes the act of taking a wife part of the household’s wider life.
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