What Does Genesis 47:12 Mean in the King James?
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
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 verb for “nourished” means sustained and maintained, so the bread here supports an entire household’s life.
THE MEANING
The verse shows provision reaching father, brothers, and the whole household together. Bread is apportioned according to their families, so the care meets the shape of their shared life. No part of the household is outside the act of sustaining.
THE ROOT
וַיְכַלְכֵּל
waykalkel
GROWS FROM
כלכל
The reduplicated Hebrew root כלכל (k-l-k-l) means to sustain, maintain, or provide for.
“nourished” in this verse is waykalkel. The verse’s verb, וַיְכַלְכֵּל (waykalkel, “he sustained”), carries the sense of support that keeps life going. Here nourishment is more than a meal: it is provision sustaining the whole household.
ALSO GROWS
kilkel: to sustain, support, or provide for
כִּלְכֵּל
This verb shares the root’s consonants and names the sustaining action at the center of the verse.
kalkalah: support, maintenance, provision; also economy in modern usage
כַלְכָּלָה
This related noun carries the root’s sense of ongoing support, extending it from an act of care to the means that sustain life.
vekhilkalti: and I will sustain you
וְכִלְכַלְתִּי
In Genesis 45:11, Joseph uses this same root when he says he will sustain his father and household through the famine.
יוֹסֵף
Yosef
GROWS FROM
יסף
The three-consonant Hebrew root יסף (y-s-p) means to add, increase, or continue.
Joseph’s name יוֹסֵף (Yosef, “he adds” or “may he add”) carries the root יסף (y-s-p), “to add.” In this verse, his name stands beside provision extended to his father, brothers, and their whole household.
ALSO GROWS
yasaf: to add, increase, or continue
יָסַף
This verb is the root form beneath Joseph’s name, joining his name’s meaning to the provision described here.
hosif: to add or increase
הוֹסִיף
This related verb makes the root’s sense of addition explicit: Joseph’s provision reaches beyond one person to the whole household.
THE PATTERN
Provision sustains a community when it reaches everyone in proportion to their need.
And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.THE THREAD
And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.The verb translated “nourish” here comes from the same Hebrew root כלכל (k-l-k-l), “to sustain,” as the verb in Genesis 47:12. One verse names sustaining as a promise; the other shows that provision reaching the whole household through bread.
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