What Does Genesis 34:16 Mean in the King James?
Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people.
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 promise of becoming “one people” is built on verbs that give and take daughters before it ever names a shared life.
THE MEANING
This line presents union as a balanced exchange: daughters are given in one direction, taken in the other, and both households settle together as one people. Its symmetry sounds mutual, while the surrounding verse names the offer as deceitful. A shared name does not by itself make a shared life honest.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Reciprocity alone proves that a bargain is mutual and honest.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַנּוּ
ve-natanu
GROWS FROM
נתן
Give, set, or place.
The daughters are the direct objects of “give,” placing them inside the terms of this proposed union. The root’s sense of setting or placing adds weight to the exchange: the words arrange people within a bargain.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
These connected senses show how giving can also position someone within an arrangement.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
This branch brings the language of giving close to the idea of something transferred between parties.
נִקַּח
niqqaḥ
GROWS FROM
לקח
Take or receive; also used of taking a wife.
The verse pairs “give” with “take,” making the proposal sound balanced while describing daughters as what passes between households. The root can also mean receive, but this sentence’s paired verbs keep the transfer in view.
ALSO GROWS
laqach: To take, receive, or take a wife.
לָקַח
The marriage sense shows why “take” carries more than simple movement here: it names entry into another household.
leqaḥ: Instruction or learning; something received.
לֶקַח
This related noun shows the root can describe taking something in, while this verse applies it to people being taken into a family arrangement.
וְיָשַׁבְנוּ
ve-yashavnu
GROWS FROM
ישב
Sit, remain, settle, or dwell.
“dwell” in this verse is ve-yashavnu. The promise moves from exchange to an ongoing shared dwelling. The root’s sense of settling or remaining makes the proposed unity a continuing life alongside one another, not just a single transaction.
ALSO GROWS
yoshev: An inhabitant, one who dwells.
יֹשֵׁב
This branch turns dwelling into a description of the people who remain in a place.
moshav: A dwelling place or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch gives the promise a place-shaped dimension: the households imagine a shared settlement.
THE PATTERN
Oneness takes its character from the actions and terms that bind people together.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;THE THREAD
And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister:The neighboring verse names the answer as deceitful. That exposes the gap between the offer’s balanced grammar and its intent: exchange language can claim mutuality while concealing coercion.
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