What Does Genesis 42:31 Mean in the King James?
And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
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 verse sets truth as something established beside spying as covert movement on foot.
THE MEANING
When you name truth, this verse reaches beneath the label: the Hebrew word carries the sense of being firm and established. “Spies” comes from a word for foot and evokes moving about to inspect. The contrast is between what stands firm and what moves covertly through a place.
THE ROOT
כֵּנִים
kenim
GROWS FROM
כון
kun
To be firm or established.
“true” in this verse is kenim. English gives you a label, while the Hebrew carries the sense of something set firm. Beside the word for spies, this makes truth sound like a settled condition rather than a passing claim.
ALSO GROWS
nakhon: Established; made ready.
נָכוֹן
It shows the firmness carried by the root behind the word translated “true.”
hekin: To prepare or make ready.
הֵכִין
This branch turns firmness into something made ready and put in place.
מְרַגְּלִים
meraggelim
GROWS FROM
רגל
ragal
Foot; going about on foot, and spying out.
The English word “spies” hides a physical image: the Hebrew word shares its root with “foot.” Spying is pictured as covert movement through a place to inspect it.
ALSO GROWS
regel: Foot.
רֶגֶל
This is the concrete image carried in the root behind “spies.”
ragal: To go about as a scout; to spy out.
רָגַל
This verb names the act of moving about to inspect, making the root’s foot imagery visible.
THE PATTERN
Truth is shown as a settled, visible way of being, while deception depends on hidden movement.
He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.THE THREAD
The lip of truth shall be established for ever: but a lying tongue is but for a moment.The word כֵּנִים (kenim, true or firm) and תִּכּוֹן (tikkon, shall be established) share the root כון (kun, to be firm). The link frames truth as something that holds over time, not merely a claim made in a moment.
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