What Does Genesis 45:2 Mean in the King James?

And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

Genesis 45:2 · 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 Hebrew says Joseph gives his voice in weeping: grief becomes audible and crosses into the whole court.

THE MEANING

Grief does not stay sealed inside the one carrying it; a voice gives it form, and people beyond the family hear. This is the instant private sorrow enters a shared room, before anyone answers.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that grief must remain private to be dignified dissolves here: the text gives Joseph’s audible weeping no apology or explanation.

THE ROOT

וַיִּתֵּן

wayyitten

GROWS FROM

נתן

natan

give, set, place

“wept aloud” in this verse is wayyitten. The Hebrew phrase is literally “he gave his voice in weeping.” The root ⁨נתן⁩ (natan, give, set, place) makes the crying an outward release: his voice leaves him and becomes something others can hear.

ALSO GROWS

natan: give, set, place

נָתַן

The verb describes Joseph giving his voice to his grief.

mattanah: gift

מַתָּנָה

The same root names something given; here what is given is a voice that lets grief enter the room.

בִּבְכִי

bivkhi

GROWS FROM

בכה

b-k-h

weep

The root ⁨בכה⁩ (b-k-h, weep) appears in the same “voice of weeping” pattern in Psalm 6:8. The shared root holds the grief itself steady while the hearer changes, from people in Pharaoh’s house here to the LORD in the psalm.

ALSO GROWS

bakah: to weep

בָּכָה

The verb names the act of crying that gives Joseph’s voice its form.

bekhi: weeping

בְּכִי

This noun names the grief voiced in Genesis 45:2 and echoed in Psalm 6:8.

וַיִּשְׁמְעוּ

wayyishme’u

GROWS FROM

שמע

shama

hear

“heard” in this verse is wayyishme’u. The plural verb names two groups as hearers: the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh. The sound crosses the boundary of Joseph’s family, while the verse leaves their response unstated.

ALSO GROWS

shama: hear, listen

שָׁמַע

The verb says the voice reaches its listeners; the text does not claim they understand or answer.

shemuah: report, news

שְׁמוּעָה

What is heard can become shared knowledge, extending the movement from one voice to a wider circle.

THE PATTERN

A voice raised from suffering crosses the boundary of private pain and reaches a hearer.

And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows;

Exodus 3:7 · KJVThe cry of a people under pressure reaches a hearer who sees their affliction and knows their sorrow.

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

Psalm 6:8 · KJVThe psalm repeats the voice of weeping and makes clear that it has reached the LORD.

Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

James 5:4 · KJVThe cries of exploited workers reach a hearer even when those withholding their wages ignore them.

THE THREAD

Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; for the LORD hath heard the voice of my weeping.

Psalm 6:8 · KJV

Psalm 6:8 repeats the same Hebrew pairing: ⁨קוֹל⁩ (qol, voice or sound) and ⁨בְּכִי⁩ (bekhi, weeping), with ⁨שָׁמַע⁩ (shama, hear) naming what reaches the listener. In Genesis the Egyptians and Pharaoh’s household hear that grief; in the psalm, the LORD does.

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