What Does Genesis 35:5 Mean in the King James?
And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
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
Jacob’s name carries a heel-following image, yet here no one follows after his sons: dismay stops pursuit before it begins.
THE MEANING
The verse shows danger being interrupted where it forms: dismay falls on the surrounding cities, and the people who could pursue do not. The travelers continue without the threat reaching them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that safety must come from overpowering a threat: here, the threat loses its momentum before pursuit begins.
THE ROOT
חִתַּת
chittat
GROWS FROM
חתת
ḥ-t-t
To be shattered, dismayed, or terrified.
English “terror” can sound like an abstract force, but this root carries the felt sense of being broken down or dismayed. That dismay rests on the surrounding cities, and their pursuit never happens.
ALSO GROWS
chittat: Dismay, terror
חִתַּת
This is the form naming what settles on the surrounding cities.
techat: Be dismayed, be shattered
תֵּחָת
The same root appears in Joshua 1:9, where a person is told not to be dismayed; here, dismay takes hold of those who might pursue.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqov
GROWS FROM
עקב
ʿ-q-b
Heel; by extension, following at the heel or supplanting.
Jacob’s name preserves a heel image that English reads as only a personal label. Here the following implied by that image is turned around: no one pursues after his sons.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaqev: Heel
עָקֵב
Genesis 25:26 connects this root to Jacob’s name through his hand taking hold of Esau’s heel.
Yaʿaqov: Jacob; associated with heel-holding and supplanting
יַעֲקֹב
The name’s heel-following image resonates with “pursue after,” the action this verse says does not occur.
THE PATTERN
God’s presence is shown preceding contact, setting dread on a threat so the threatened can pass without being pursued.
I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee.And she said unto the men, I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.THE THREAD
And after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau’s heel; and his name was called Jacob: and Isaac was threescore years old when she bare them.Genesis 25:26 exposes the heel image behind Jacob’s name: his hand takes hold of Esau’s heel, and the name is given. Here, that name’s image of following at the heel turns around, no one follows after Jacob’s sons.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us