What Does Genesis 40:21 Mean in the King James?
And he restored the chief butler unto his butlership again; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand:
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
Restoration means returning to a place that already exists: the cupbearer resumes his role, and the cup returns to Pharaoh’s hand.
THE MEANING
A lost place is not necessarily a final place: a person can return to a role that is already theirs. Wholeness here is concrete and relational, the cupbearer resumes his service, and the cup is again in Pharaoh’s hand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that once someone loses their place, that place can never belong to them again.
THE ROOT
וַיָּשֶׁב
wayyāšev
GROWS FROM
שׁוּב
To turn back or return; in this form, to cause someone to return, restore.
“restored” in this verse is wayyāšev. The root presents restoration as a return to an existing place, rather than the creation of a new one. The cup’s return to Pharaoh’s hand makes the change visible: the cupbearer and the cup resume their former relation.
ALSO GROWS
meshiv: One who returns or restores; also, one who answers.
מֵשִׁיב
This branch links restoring something to bringing it back into response or relation.
teshuvah: Return or turning; also an answer or response.
תְּשׁוּבָה
The same root holds return and response together, suggesting that what comes back can re-enter a relationship.
THE PATTERN
Restoration returns people or things to a former place or wholeness so their relation and function can resume.
Yet within three days shall Pharaoh lift up thine head, and restore thee unto thy place: and thou shalt deliver Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, after the former manner when thou wast his butler.And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other.THE THREAD
A Song of degrees. When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.The same root שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) appears as “turned again” in the psalm. The scale widens from one person’s place to a people’s fortunes, while restoration remains a return from displacement.
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