What Does Genesis 35:21 Mean in the King James?
And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.
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 tent is not the opposite of the journey: Israel sets out and stretches a dwelling beyond the tower of the flock.
THE MEANING
Here, movement and belonging exist in one motion: the tent is stretched as the journey continues. The tower of the flock marks a place passed, while dwelling continues farther on.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that you must be settled before you can belong gives way here: the tent is extended while the journey is still underway.
THE ROOT
וַיִּסַּע
wayyissaʿ
GROWS FROM
נסע
n-s-ʿ
Pull up camp and set out; journey.
“journeyed” in this verse is wayyissaʿ. The verb can hold both pulling camp up and the journey that follows, so movement here carries dwelling with it. The next clause uses a verb of stretching out: departure and a new place to inhabit belong to one motion.
ALSO GROWS
nāsaʿ: To break camp and depart.
נָסַע
This sense makes the journey begin by releasing the place one has occupied.
massāʿ: A journey or leg of travel.
מַסָּע
The related noun presents travel as a sequence of stages, with dwelling able to continue along the way.
וַיֵּט אָהֳלֹה
wayyēṭ ʾoholō
GROWS FROM
נטה
n-ṭ-h
Stretch, extend, or incline.
“spread his tent” in this verse is wayyēṭ ʾoholō. The verb translated “spread” also describes inclining the ear, so its range joins making space with turning toward what can be heard. Here, a tent is extended beyond a familiar marker, making the next place inhabitable.
ALSO GROWS
nāṭāh ʾōhel: To extend a tent as a dwelling.
נָטָה אֹהֶל
This is the same action in the verse: the tent takes the journey’s next ground into its space.
haṭṭēh ʾoznekā: To turn the ear toward a voice.
הַטֵּה אָזְנֶךָ
The same root describes extending attention, linking the tent’s outward reach with an inward turning toward what is heard.
THE PATTERN
A journey can make room for dwelling as it advances: the tent is stretched into the next place.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Beth-el, and pitched his tent, having Beth-el on the west, and Hai on the east: and there he builded an altar unto the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:THE THREAD
And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.Micah repeats the place-name מִגְדַּל עֵדֶר (migdal ʿēder, tower of the flock) and places it beside the return of dominion to Jerusalem. The repeated landmark lets this verse’s journey open onto a larger scriptural echo: the flock-tower stands in the same sentence as Zion’s restored rule.
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