What Does Genesis 29:21 Mean in the King James?
And Jacob said unto Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are fulfilled, that I may go in unto her.
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 days reach fullness, and that fullness becomes the threshold into sexual union.
THE MEANING
A season in your life can reach its full measure and open into bodily union. The verse sets Jacob’s completed days beside his request to consummate his marriage, making fullness a threshold into what comes next.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that waiting is empty time dissolves: Jacob calls the days full, and their fullness stands at the threshold of sexual union.
THE ROOT
מָלְאוּ
male'u
GROWS FROM
מלא
male
Fill; be full; reach fullness.
“fulfilled” in this verse is male'u. The word carries the concrete image of being filled to capacity: Jacob’s days have reached their full measure. Their completion stands beside the next movement, entering his wife; fullness becomes a threshold in the sentence.
ALSO GROWS
male: Be full; full.
מָלֵא
This form makes the image in “my days are fulfilled” tangible: the days have become full.
melo: Fullness; full measure.
מְלֹא
It brings out the sense of a span brought to its full measure before the next act begins.
וְאָבוֹאָה
ve'avo'ah
GROWS FROM
בוא
boʾ
Come, arrive, enter.
“go in” in this verse is ve'avo'ah. The verb spans coming, arriving, and entering, giving the phrase a sense of movement into her presence. Here it names sexual consummation plainly, following the days reaching fullness.
ALSO GROWS
boʾ: Come; enter.
בּוֹא
The same verb holds arrival and entry together, as Jacob moves toward union with his wife.
mavoʾ: Entrance; approach.
מָבוֹא
This noun keeps the root’s spatial sense visible: the next step is an entry.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqov
GROWS FROM
עקב
ʿaqav
Heel; follow at the heel.
Jacob’s name carries the image of the heel and of one following at it. Here, the name stands beside the full measure of his waiting and the union he has labored toward.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaqev: Heel.
עָקֵב
The heel is the image carried within Jacob’s name.
ʿaqav: Follow at the heel; supplant.
עָקַב
This verb gives the name its sense of pursuit, echoing the long span Jacob names as full.
THE PATTERN
When a span reaches fullness, its ending becomes a threshold into what comes next.
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,THE THREAD
And when her days to be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb.The same root, מלא (male, “fill; be full”), marks Rebecca’s days as fulfilled. In both verses, full days stand at a bodily threshold: Jacob enters his wife, while Rebecca is at the point of delivery.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us