What Does Genesis 42:20 Mean in the King James?
But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
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 word “verified” shares its Hebrew root with trust: a word is proved firm when reality can bear its weight.
THE MEANING
The verse puts words to a real test: once the youngest brother is brought, the speakers’ claim stands as reliable. Their lives hang on that verification, so trust here carries consequences beyond what is said.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A confident claim is not the same as a reliable word; what is said must prove able to stand.
THE ROOT
וְיֵאָמְנוּ
veye'amnu
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm, steady, or reliable.
The Hebrew verb translated “verified” grows from the same root as words for trust and affirmation. What English separates as proof, trust, and “Amen” shares the idea of something that holds firm.
ALSO GROWS
he'emin: To trust, regard as reliable.
הֶאֱמִין
This is the form used for “believed” in Genesis 15:6, linking belief with treating someone as trustworthy.
emunah: Steadiness, trust.
אֱמוּנָה
In Exodus 17:12, this word describes Moses’ hands as steady, showing the root’s sense of firmness in what holds.
amen: Firmly; truly.
אָמֵן
“Amen” affirms that a word is firm and can be trusted.
THE PATTERN
Reliability is firmness that can be trusted in speech, sustained in action, and carried through to completion.
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.THE THREAD
And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.The word “believed” is הֶאֱמִין (he’emin, to trust), another form of אמן: trust treats a word as firm. Here, as in Genesis 42:20, what is spoken or promised is measured by whether it can be relied on.
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