What Does Genesis 46:5 Mean in the King James?
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 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
Jacob rises, then is carried: strength and dependence occupy the same moment.
THE MEANING
A movement can begin with your own rising while the next stretch is borne by others. Receiving their strength does not erase your agency; help arrives through both people and the means sent to carry you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that strength means carrying yourself dissolves here: Jacob rises, and his family still bears him forward.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׂאוּ
vayyis'u
GROWS FROM
נשׂא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear; the motion of raising a weight.
“carried” in this verse is vayyis'u. The Hebrew verb holds lifting and bearing together: Jacob is not merely moved but borne by his family. A burden and the act of carrying it share this root, making their support part of the journey itself.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A burden or load; something carried.
מַשָּׂא
The load and the act of bearing it share the same root, bringing the physical weight of Jacob’s journey into view.
nasi: A leader or chief; one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
The word’s connection to being raised adds another shade to the scene: Jacob is lifted by those who surround him.
שָׁלַח
shalach
GROWS FROM
שלח
shalach
To send, send forth, release, or let go.
Pharaoh’s wagons are not incidental: the verse names them as something sent to carry the family onward. The root also carries the shades of sending forth and release, while shulchan evokes provision extended and set out.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: A sending away or release.
שִׁלּוּחַ
It shows the root’s reach beyond dispatch: what is sent can also be let go to move onward.
shulchan: A table, with the image of provision extended and set out.
שֻׁלְחָן
This branch brings provision into the root’s field of meaning: the wagons are concrete means sent for the family’s passage.
וַיָּקָם
vayyaqom
GROWS FROM
קום
qum
To rise, stand, or be established.
“rose up” in this verse is vayyaqom. The verse begins with Jacob’s own rising, then immediately shows others carrying him. Qum links standing and being established, so his agency remains present even as his movement depends on shared support.
ALSO GROWS
heqim: To raise up or establish.
הֵקִים
It echoes the act of rising while showing that something can be set firmly in place by another.
maqom: A place or standing place.
מָקוֹם
Its root connection to standing gives the departure a sense of movement from one place toward another.
THE PATTERN
People are sustained when others bear what exceeds one person’s strength.
And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.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.THE THREAD
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 Hebrew verb translated “bring” comes from נשׂא (nasa, lift or carry), the same root rendered “carried” here. What is directed there becomes visible in this verse: Jacob’s family literally bears him along with the little ones and wives.
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