What Does Genesis 43:17 Mean in the King James?
And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
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 men are “caused to come” into the house of one whose name means “he adds,” placing arrival and addition in the same frame.
THE MEANING
You can be brought into a place before you know what it means. Here, the Hebrew verb behind “brought” is a causative form of “come”: the man moves the visitors and makes them arrive. Their destination bears Joseph’s name, associated with “he adds,” though the verse leaves the addition unspoken.
THE ROOT
וַיָּבֵא
wayyāvēʾ
GROWS FROM
בוא
Come, enter, arrive; in a causative form, bring or cause to come.
“brought” in this verse is wayyāvēʾ. English separates “come” from “bring,” but this verb is built from the root for coming: the man causes the men to come. The word holds their movement and their arrival together.
ALSO GROWS
bāʾ: Came or entered.
בָּא
The root names arrival itself, the movement the man causes in this verse.
hēvîʾ: Brought or caused someone to arrive.
הֵבִיא
This causative form makes explicit the link between bringing someone and their coming.
māvōʾ: An entrance or way in.
מָבוֹא
This branch carries the same root from arrival into the threshold through which someone enters.
יוֹסֵף
Yōsēf
GROWS FROM
יסף
Add, increase, do again.
Joseph’s name is associated with yasaf, “to add,” as its naming explanation makes clear in Genesis 30:24. His name sits at the destination of this verse, even as the verse leaves what will be added unstated.
ALSO GROWS
yāsaf: To add or increase.
יָסַף
This verb supplies the root sense carried in Joseph’s name.
yōsēf: He adds; also the name Joseph.
יוֹסֵף
The name marks the house’s owner with the idea of addition.
THE PATTERN
A bringing carries someone across a threshold into a destination they do not reach alone.
And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD.And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.THE THREAD
And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.Rachel’s naming words make the root in Joseph’s name explicit: “The LORD shall add.” In this verse, the men arrive at Joseph’s house, so their destination carries the same language of addition.
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