What Does Genesis 3:5 Mean in the King James?
For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
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 serpent frames the limit as withholding: opened eyes are presented as the route to godlike knowing.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you where a boundary is presented as deprivation and forbidden knowledge as a path to becoming more. It sets God’s knowing beside the humans’ promised knowing, then makes opened eyes the threshold to that likeness. The next verse shows the first thing they see: their own nakedness.
THE ROOT
יֹדֵעַ
yōdēaʿ
GROWS FROM
ידע
yādaʿ (יָדַע): to know, perceive, or recognize.
“know / knowing” in this verse is yōdēaʿ. The same verb appears first for God’s knowing and then for the humans’ promised knowing, making that shared capacity the hinge of the verse. Elsewhere it can describe intimate, experienced knowing, as when Adam “knew” Eve (Genesis 4:1), so it reaches beyond collecting information.
ALSO GROWS
yōdēaʿ: knows
יֹדֵעַ
This form names the knowing the serpent first attributes to God.
yōdəʿê: knowing
יֹדְעֵי
The same root names the knowledge promised to the humans, linking their desired likeness to God’s knowing.
yādaʿ: knew
יָדַע
The same root describes Adam’s intimate knowing of Eve in Genesis 4:1, showing its range beyond information.
וְנִפְקְחוּ
venifqəḥû
GROWS FROM
פקח
paqach (פָּקַח): to open, especially the eyes or ears.
“opened” in this verse is venifqəḥû. This root names a change in what can be seen; it does not itself promise wisdom or wholeness. When the eyes open in the next verse, the first new recognition is nakedness, so the opening exposes a reality without making the humans all-knowing.
ALSO GROWS
nifqəḥû: were opened
נִפְקְחוּ
In Genesis 3:7 the same root describes the eyes opening and the humans recognizing their nakedness.
pōqēaḥ: opens
פּוֹקֵחַ
Isaiah 42:7 uses this root for opening blind eyes, where the opening reveals what was unseen.
THE PATTERN
Opened eyes bring unseen realities into view; what becomes visible depends on the kind of opening.
And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight.THE THREAD
And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:This repeats the promise almost word for word: becoming as one of the divine beings and knowing good and evil. It clarifies the likeness described here while placing that knowing beside the still-inaccessible tree of life.
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