What Does Genesis 31:10 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass at the time that the cattle conceived, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and, behold, the rams which leaped upon the cattle were ringstraked, speckled, and grisled.
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 dream’s “ringstraked” rams carry the root-image of binding, turning what sounds like a color into a pattern of bands.
THE MEANING
The scene holds the flock’s heat and the marked rams together: bands, dots, and hail-like mottling come into view in the dream. The hidden process of generation appears as a pattern on the animals.
THE ROOT
עֲקֻדִּים
ʿăquddîm
GROWS FROM
עקד
ʿ-q-d
To bind or tie.
“ringstraked” in this verse is ʿăquddîm. The English sounds like a color label; the Hebrew carries the image of binding, like bands around the animal. The same root appears in the verb for binding Isaac, so this marked pattern has a connection the English hides.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāqōd: Banded, ring-marked.
עָקֹד
This related form keeps the image of binding visible in the rams’ pattern.
wayyaʿăqōd: And he bound.
וַיַּעֲקֹד
Genesis 22:9 uses this verb when Abraham binds Isaac; the same root names both banded markings and an act of binding.
יַחֵם
yāḥēm
GROWS FROM
חמם
ḥ-m-m
To grow hot or be in heat.
“conceived” in this verse is yāḥēm. Alongside the sense of conception, the Hebrew names heat: the flock is in heat at the generative moment. The timing is bodily and explicit, not merely a point on the calendar.
ALSO GROWS
ḥōm: Heat, warmth.
חֹם
This noun names the heat carried by the verb describing the flock’s condition.
ḥam: Hot, warm.
חַם
This related form makes the bodily heat in the scene concrete.
נְקֻדִּים
neqūddîm
GROWS FROM
נקד
n-q-d
To mark with points or dots.
“Speckled” gives a general surface description, while the Hebrew points to dots or points as the marks themselves. Together with the banded word, it presents the animals through distinct patterns rather than just color.
ALSO GROWS
neqūddāh: A dot or point.
נְקֻדָּה
The noun names the small marks that make an animal dotted.
nāqōd: Spotted, dotted.
נָקֹד
This related form describes a surface marked with points, as in the verse.
THE PATTERN
What is formed through a hidden process becomes legible in the form it takes.
And the flocks conceived before the rods, and brought forth cattle ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?THE THREAD
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.“Ringstraked” carries the Hebrew root עקד, meaning to bind; the same root appears when Abraham binds Isaac. One root names both the rams’ banded pattern and an act of binding.
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