What Does Genesis 31:44 Mean in the King James?
Now therefore come thou, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee.
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 says “let us cut a covenant”: the bond is given a clear line, with a witness standing between the two people.
THE MEANING
A promise between two people takes shape as something that can stand beyond either person’s private memory. The covenant is between them, and its witness gives their agreement a form that can be recalled and tested.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that a promise is only the feeling or intention of the people making it; here, the covenant also has a witness that can testify to what they agreed.
THE ROOT
נִכְרְתָה בְּרִית
nikhretah berit
GROWS FROM
כרת
cut, cut off, sever
“make a covenant” in this verse is nikhretah berit. The KJV’s “make” translates נִכְרְתָה (nikhretah, “let us cut”), paired with בְּרִית (berit, “covenant”). The same root forms כְּרִיתוּת (keritut, “cutting off,” also a certificate of divorce), so the image of a cut can mark a defined bond between people, a line their witness makes legible.
ALSO GROWS
karat: To cut or cut off
כָּרַת
This is the verb behind the phrase “cut a covenant,” showing the concrete image beneath the KJV’s “make.”
keritut: A cutting off; a formal certificate of divorce
כְּרִיתוּת
The same root can describe a formal severing, giving the covenant’s cut the sense of a marked boundary in a relationship.
לְעֵד
le'ed
GROWS FROM
עוד
bear witness, testify
עֵד (ed, “witness”) belongs to the root עוּד (ud, “testify”). Its word family includes testimony and the act of testifying, so the witness is more than a silent marker: it can preserve what was agreed and speak against denial.
ALSO GROWS
edut: Testimony or attestation
עֵדוּת
The agreement is held in a form that can be recalled and spoken about, not left to private memory alone.
he'id: To testify or bear witness
הֵעִיד
The verb gives the witness an active role: it can testify to the covenant between the two people.
THE PATTERN
A covenant takes a visible form that can carry its testimony beyond the moment of agreement.
And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed;And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.THE THREAD
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:Genesis 15:18 uses the same Hebrew pairing, כָּרַת בְּרִית (karat berit, “cut a covenant”), though the KJV renders it “made a covenant” in both verses. Here the cut covenant has a witness between two people; in Genesis 15:18, the same wording marks the covenant as a binding pledge.
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