What Does Genesis 45:19 Mean in the King James?
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
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 “bring” the father uses the verb “carry,” turning the household’s journey into a shared burden rather than a solo departure.
THE MEANING
The way through this transition is made concrete: wagons are named for the little ones and wives, and the family carries its father. Egypt’s constriction remains in view, yet provision and movement appear together. The whole household is included in the journey.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a new beginning requires leaving dependents behind is undone here: wagons and shared carrying make the whole household part of the move.
THE ROOT
וּנְשָׂאתֶם
u-nesatem from nasa
GROWS FROM
נָשָׂא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear.
The verb translated “bring” is nasa: to lift, carry, or bear. The father is not merely brought along; he is borne by the family, a shared labor that Genesis 46:5 makes literal.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A burden or load to be carried.
מַשָּׂא
The word keeps the physical weight of carrying in view: the father’s place in the journey is a real shared load.
nose avon: Bearing crookedness; in some contexts, forgiving or taking it up.
נֹשֵׂא עָוֹן
The same carrying verb can describe bearing a weight beyond the physical, revealing how much meaning “carry” holds beneath the English “bring.”
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צָרַר
tsarar
To bind, press, or bring into constriction and distress.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim is read through the צָרַר (tsarar) family of binding and constriction; its name carries the image of a narrow place. Here the household is summoned toward that narrowing with wagons for the children and wives, and a father to be carried.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow or constricted.
צַר
This branch gives the name’s narrowing image a concrete shape: the journey leads toward a confined place.
metsar: A tight place, distress, or straits.
מֵצַר
This branch shows how narrowness can also be experienced as distress; the verse holds that pressure alongside provision for the household.
THE PATTERN
A difficult passage is sustained when one life is carried by another.
Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.THE THREAD
And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.The same root behind “bring” appears here as “carried”: Jacob’s sons carry their father, while Pharaoh’s wagons carry the household. The instruction becomes a scene of shared weight, with the whole family included in the journey.
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