What Does Genesis 27:5 Mean in the King James?
And Rebekah heard when Isaac spake to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, and to bring it.
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 hunt is only the visible errand; the verse turns when a word spoken to one person enters another person’s hearing.
THE MEANING
A word spoken to one person can enter another person’s hearing and open a second line of action. Rebekah hears Isaac’s plan as Esau goes to carry it out; the moment stays poised before her response. The space between hearing and acting becomes visible.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a spoken plan stays bounded by its intended audience: once someone else hears it, that knowledge can redirect what happens next.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמַעַת
shomaʿat
GROWS FROM
שמע
hear, listen; in some contexts, heed or respond
English “heard” can sound like passive reception, but שָׁמַע (shamaʿ), “hear,” can carry listening toward heed and response. Here the word reaches Rebekah before Esau’s errand is complete; what enters her hearing opens the next line of action.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond; the imperative form used in a summons to listen.
שְׁמַע
It shows that hearing can carry a call to answer, while this verse holds Rebekah at the moment before her response.
shemuʿah: A report or tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch makes hearing a way information travels: what is spoken reaches another person and becomes consequential.
THE PATTERN
Hearing is a threshold: what enters a person’s ear can become the beginning of a new course of action.
And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.And the LORD came, and stood, and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel. Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth.Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:THE THREAD
Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:Genesis uses שָׁמַע (shamaʿ), “hear,” for what Rebekah receives; Deuteronomy opens its central summons with שְׁמַע (shema), “hear and respond.” The shared root holds both reception and response, while this moment shows the instant before Rebekah answers what she has heard.
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