What Does Genesis 43:13 Mean in the King James?

Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:

Genesis 43:13 · KJV

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 command to “go again” is ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, return): the destination stays the same, but a brother now goes with them.

THE MEANING

You rise and return to the same man with your brother; the destination is familiar, but the company has changed. A return can reopen an encounter with someone who was absent the first time.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that returning only repeats what happened before: this return includes the brother who was absent.

THE ROOT

שׁוּבוּ

shuvu

GROWS FROM

שוב

To turn back, return, or restore.

“go again” in this verse is shuvu. The word is not simply a second trip: ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, return or turn back) names movement back toward a person or place. The destination repeats, but Benjamin now travels with them into the encounter.

ALSO GROWS

teshuvah: Return, turning

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun makes the turning back explicit: the movement has a direction, toward someone or somewhere.

heshiv: Bring back, restore

הֵשִׁיב

This causative form shows the root can describe bringing something back; here, the brother is brought into the journey.

THE PATTERN

A return is renewed movement toward an encounter that remains open.

And the LORD said unto Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt: for all the men are dead which sought thy life.

Exodus 4:19 · KJVMoses returns to the place of an unfinished encounter, with what has changed shaping what comes next.

Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 1:3 · KJVThe return becomes relational movement, met by a return in response.

And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

Luke 15:20 · KJVThe son’s return reopens an encounter with his father, who meets him on the way.

THE THREAD

And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul;

Deuteronomy 30:2 · KJV

The Hebrew root ⁨שׁוּב⁩ (shuv, return or turn back) appears in both verses. Here it describes returning to the man with Benjamin; in Deuteronomy, it names a return to the LORD, showing how the same word holds both journey and reorientation.

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