What Does Genesis 38:13 Mean in the King James?

And it was told Tamar, saying, Behold thy father in law goeth up to Timnath to shear his sheep.

Genesis 38:13 · KJV

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 hinge is the report: Tamar learns of Judah’s ascent while his journey to the shearing is already underway.

THE MEANING

You see news bring someone else’s movement into Tamar’s present before he arrives. Judah is going up to the sheep-shearing, and a distant event becomes known to her through a report.

THE ROOT

עֹלֶה

ʿoleh going up

GROWS FROM

עלה

⁨עָלָה⁩ (ʿalah) means to rise, ascend, or go up.

“goeth up” in this verse is ʿoleh going up. The verb belongs to a root whose branches include both ascent and what goes up. That shared motion lets Judah’s journey carry the sense of rising before the flock is shorn.

ALSO GROWS

ʿolah: An ascent; also a burnt offering, literally something that goes up.

עֹלָה

It shares the root ⁨עלה⁩ and shows the same upward motion appearing in a different kind of action.

maʿalah: An ascent, uphill way, or step.

מַעֲלָה

This noun shares the root ⁨עלה⁩ and makes the upward direction in “goeth up” concrete.

THE PATTERN

A report brings an event beyond someone’s sight into that person’s present awareness.

And David heard in the wilderness that Nabal did shear his sheep.

1 Samuel 25:4 · KJVLike Tamar, David receives news that someone is shearing sheep while he is elsewhere.

Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.

John 11:3 · KJVA message brings the condition of someone absent into another person’s awareness.

And, behold, Cushi came; and Cushi said, Tidings, my lord the king: for the LORD hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against thee.

2 Samuel 18:31 · KJVA messenger makes the outcome of events elsewhere present to the king through a report.

THE THREAD

And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Genesis 28:12 · KJV

The Hebrew word for “ascending” here comes from the same root, ⁨עלה⁩, as “goeth up” in Tamar’s report. Genesis 28 makes that upward motion visible in a scene where ascent and descent meet.

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