What Does Genesis 39:20 Mean in the King James?
And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison.
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 calls the king’s prisoners and their being bound by forms of the same root, doubling the image of binding around Joseph.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you with the fact of being taken by another and placed in confinement, without supplying an explanation or resolution. It repeats the binding language around Joseph: the king’s prisoners are bound, and Joseph is there in their prison. The scene holds constraint plainly instead of pretending it is already over.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being confined does not make a person guilty; Joseph is placed in prison, but the verse names what is done to him, not a verdict on his character.
THE ROOT
אֲסִירֵי
asirei
GROWS FROM
אסר
To bind, tie, or fasten.
“prisoners / bound” in this verse is asirei. The noun translated “prisoners” (אֲסִירֵי, asirei, “prisoners”) and the participle translated “bound” (אֲסוּרִים, asurim, “bound”) both grow from אסר (ʾ-s-r / asar, “to bind”). English uses separate labels, while Hebrew repeats one seed: this place is defined through binding.
ALSO GROWS
asir: Prisoner; one held or bound.
אָסִיר
This is the form behind “prisoners”; the person is named by the binding that confines them.
asur: Bound, tied, or held.
אָסוּר
This is the state repeated in the verse; Hebrew makes the prisoners’ restraint audible beside their identity as prisoners.
שָׁם
sham
GROWS FROM
שם
sh-m
There, in that place.
The verse closes by repeating that Joseph is “there” in the prison. This small word keeps the scene with him in confinement rather than moving ahead to an unseen resolution.
ALSO GROWS
sham: There; in that place.
שָׁם
Its repetition anchors Joseph in the place where the verse has put him.
misham: From there; from that place.
מִשָּׁם
This related form marks movement away from a location, sharpening how firmly this verse leaves Joseph “there.”
THE PATTERN
Confinement is expressed through binding, while release appears as loosening, opening, or breaking the restraint.
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners:The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.THE THREAD
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;“Them that are bound” is אֲסוּרִים (asurim, “bound”), from אסר (ʾ-s-r / asar, “to bind”), the same root heard around Joseph. There, this binding word stands beside liberty and the opening of prison, echoing release without pretending Joseph is already out.
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