What Does Genesis 39:21 Mean in the King James?
But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of 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 prison remains, but the LORD’s presence reaches Joseph through the keeper’s favor.
THE MEANING
The LORD is with you even where confinement remains real. Faithful love reaches Joseph through the prison keeper’s regard, so favor appears inside the place that limits him. The verse holds presence and constraint together without pretending the prison is freedom.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that confinement means God has withdrawn: the prison remains, yet the LORD is with Joseph and favor reaches him there.
THE ROOT
חֶסֶד
chesed
GROWS FROM
חסד
ḥ-s-d
Faithful, loyal kindness expressed in relationship.
The verse’s mercy is not a feeling detached from the prison; chesed names faithful love expressed in relationship. The same word appears in Psalm 23:6 as the mercy that follows the speaker, carrying active fidelity into Joseph’s confinement.
ALSO GROWS
chasid: A faithful or devoted person.
חָסִיד
The person is described by the same family of faithful loyalty that chesed names, making love visible in a life.
chesed: Faithful love, kindness, or mercy.
חֶסֶד
This is the word rendered “mercy” here: love takes the form of regard that reaches Joseph inside prison.
חֵן
chen
GROWS FROM
חנן
ḥ-n-n
To show favor or regard graciously.
“favour” in this verse is chen. Chen is favor that finds expression in another person’s regard. Joseph receives it from the keeper, so the verse shows favor moving through the very authority that governs his confinement.
ALSO GROWS
chanan: To show favor or be gracious.
חָנַן
This verb names the giving of gracious regard that appears here as favor.
channun: Gracious or showing favor.
חַנּוּן
This related form describes the quality of gracious regard that chen brings into Joseph’s situation.
THE PATTERN
God’s nearness holds through danger without requiring the danger to vanish first.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;THE THREAD
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.The word translated “mercy” is chesed, the same word shown to Joseph in prison. The psalm pictures that faithful love following through every day, revealing that love remains active where the reader is.
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