What Does Genesis 29:15 Mean in the King James?
And Laban said unto Jacob, Because thou art my brother, shouldest thou therefore serve me for nought? tell me, what shall thy wages be?
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 verse lets the word brother sit beside service for nothing, exposing how closeness can make labor seem valueless.
THE MEANING
You can be treated as family while your labor is assumed to cost nothing; this verse makes that pressure audible. It also makes the value of work something that can be asked about plainly.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that closeness alone makes another person’s labor free to take.
THE ROOT
וַעֲבַדְתַּנִי
vaʿavadtani
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work; to serve.
“serve me” in this verse is vaʿavadtani. The verb עבד (ʿavad, “work, serve”) names both the action and the person whose labor is given: עֶבֶד (ʿeved, “servant, slave”) and עֲבֹדָה (ʿavodah, “work, service”) grow from the same root. English “serve” can sound like a role alone; this root keeps the labor itself visible beside the word “brother.”
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant; slave.
עֶבֶד
The same root names the person who gives service, keeping the worker visible within the act.
ʿavodah: Work; service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch holds labor and service together in one word, as the verse does.
מַשְׂכֻּרְתֶּךָ
maśkurtəḵā
GROWS FROM
שכר
To hire; to pay wages.
The word for wages carries the language of hiring and payment: שכר (śākar, “hire, pay”), שָׂכָר (sākār, “wages, reward”), and שָׂכִיר (śāḵîr, “hired worker”) share this root. Laban makes Jacob’s work and its wage an explicit question rather than leaving the labor as an unnamed favor.
ALSO GROWS
sākār: Wages; reward.
שָׂכָר
This branch names the return attached to work and clarifies what Laban asks Jacob to state.
śāḵîr: Hired worker.
שָׂכִיר
The same root names the worker in relation to wages, joining the person’s labor to its compensation.
THE PATTERN
When service is spoken plainly, the worker’s due can also be named plainly.
At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn. And, The labourer is worthy of his reward.THE THREAD
And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will give it.Genesis 29:15 asks what Jacob’s wages will be; this later question uses מַשְׂכֻּרְתֶּךָ (maśkurtəḵā, “your wages”) from the same root, שכר (śākar, “hire, pay”). The repeated word makes the wage an explicit term in their arrangement.
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