What Does Genesis 31:39 Mean in the King James?
That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it; of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night.
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 Hebrew for “I bare the loss” belongs to the root of “missing,” joining the vanished thing and the cost carried for it in one word-family.
THE MEANING
Loss can fall on the keeper even when another force causes it. The verse gives voice to the one who absorbs what cannot be returned while the demand continues by day and by night.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being innocent of causing a loss means being free of its cost.
THE ROOT
אֲחַטֶּנָּה
aḥattennah
GROWS FROM
חטא
The three-letter root ḥ-ṭ-ʾ means to miss or go wrong; in this form, it means to bear or suffer the loss.
“bare the loss” in this verse is aḥattennah. The word-family joins missing with bearing the cost of what is missing. That does not make Jacob guilty of the animal’s death; it shows that the loss can land on someone else.
ALSO GROWS
ḥeṭ: A miss or failure, often rendered “sin.”
חֵטְא
The shared root links what has gone wrong with the loss Jacob says he bears.
ḥaṭṭā’t: Missing; in ritual contexts, an offering for the missing.
חַטָּאת
This branch keeps the same root visible in another word associated with what is missing.
טְרֵפָה
terefah
GROWS FROM
טרף
The three-letter root ṭ-r-p means to tear apart or seize as prey.
The Hebrew keeps the violence of the loss visible: an animal has been seized and torn. The same root names prey and tearing, so the disappearance is more than an accounting shortfall.
ALSO GROWS
teref: Prey, or food seized by tearing.
טֶרֶף
The word shows the root’s link between taking prey and the loss described here.
tarof: Torn apart or mauled.
טָרֹף
This form appears in the account of Joseph’s torn coat, where a beast is said to have devoured him.
THE PATTERN
A burden can pass from the one who suffers loss to someone who carries its cost.
And if it be stolen from him, he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.THE THREAD
And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.The Hebrew root טָרַף (taraph, to tear or seize as prey) appears in both passages: the KJV renders it “torn” here and “devoured” and “rent in pieces” there. The shared root links a flock’s loss to the image of a body torn from the people who seek it.
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