What Does Genesis 37:23 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
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 verb for stripping Joseph’s coat is also used for raiding, so taking the garment carries the force of an incursion into his bodily space.
THE MEANING
When something is taken from your body, the act is more than a change in appearance; it crosses your bodily boundary. Joseph’s brothers strip his coat as he arrives, and the verse leaves the violence physical and unsoftened.
THE ROOT
וַיַּפְשִׁיטוּ
wayyaphshitu
GROWS FROM
פשט
To strip off or make bare; elsewhere, to raid or make an incursion.
“stript” in this verse is wayyaphshitu. Here the verb means to strip off; elsewhere this root describes a raid, an outward incursion. That shared range lets the removal register as forceful taking while the verse stays exact about what is physically done to Joseph.
ALSO GROWS
wayyaphshitu: They stripped off
וַיַּפְשִׁיטוּ
This is the form used for what Joseph’s brothers do to his coat.
wayyiphsetu: They raided or invaded
וַיִּפְשְׁטוּ
In 1 Samuel 27:8, the same root names a forceful incursion, bringing that sense of forceful taking into view.
THE PATTERN
A garment can make status visible, and its giving, seizure, or misuse can enact power in public.
And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.THE THREAD
And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.The verb translated “invaded” is וַיִּפְשְׁטוּ (wayyiphsetu), from the same root, פשט (pashat), as “stript” here. That shared root lets the taking of Joseph’s coat register as force crossing into his bodily space; in Samuel, it names an incursion against a people.
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