What Does Genesis 32:10 Mean in the King James?
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.
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 opening, “I have become small,” holds the speaker’s smallness beside a life that has grown from one staff to two camps.
THE MEANING
You can still see what you carried when you crossed, even as your life now holds more than that beginning could contain. Smallness and abundance coexist here: faithful love and truth have been shown to you across the distance. The increase is received, not offered as proof of your worth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that abundance proves you earned it, or that feeling small means nothing has been given.
THE ROOT
קָטֹנְתִּי
qatonti
GROWS FROM
קטן
q-t-n
To be small, little, or young.
The Hebrew verb qatonti names smallness directly, so the KJV’s “not worthy” also carries a sense of scale: the speaker is small beside all that has been shown. That smallness does not cancel the next image; one staff marks the crossing, and now there are two camps.
ALSO GROWS
qāṭōn: Small, little, or young.
קָטֹן
It keeps the verse’s humility in view as a matter of scale before what has been given.
qāṭan: To become small or diminish.
קָטַן
The verb form gives smallness as the speaker’s present description amid abundance.
חֲסָדִים
chasadim
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful love expressed through loyal kindness.
The KJV’s “mercies” renders chasadim, plural expressions of chesed: faithful love rather than an isolated kindness. Set beside truth, it describes care that is both committed and dependable.
ALSO GROWS
ḥesed: Faithful love.
חֶסֶד
The plural in this verse points to many expressions of the same faithful love.
ḥāsîd: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
This related form connects faithful love with the character of one who acts in loyalty.
אֱמֶת
emet
GROWS FROM
א־מ־ת
ʾ-m-t
Truth, with a sense of firmness and reliability.
“truth” in this verse is emet. Emet gives the abundance a steady companion to faithful love: what is shown is also reliable. Together, the words describe not only many gifts but a relationship experienced as committed and trustworthy.
ALSO GROWS
ʾemet: Truth, reliability.
אֱמֶת
This is the word paired with faithful love in the speaker’s account.
ʾamittî: True or genuine.
אֲמִתִּי
This related form lets truth shade toward what proves dependable in lived relationship.
THE PATTERN
Abundance is recognized through faithful love and truth accompanying a person across the crossing.
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.THE THREAD
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,Genesis names all the chasadim and all the emet shown to one person; Exodus repeats those roots as the LORD’s abundant goodness and truth. Jacob’s personal account opens onto a recurring pair: faithful love joined with what is true and reliable.
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