What Does Genesis 47:16 Mean in the King James?
And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail.
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
Money’s end does not end exchange: cattle become the next form of value for food.
THE MEANING
The verse meets the reader at a hard limit: money is gone, and livestock becomes the means of exchange for provision. Value has not vanished; it has shifted into what remains available.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie is that when money runs out, nothing of value remains. The verse shows another form of value still entering the exchange.
THE ROOT
אָפֵס
ʾāphes
GROWS FROM
אפס
ʾ-p-s
To cease, come to an end, or be no more.
The word rendered “fail” says the money has come to an end. Its cognate אֶפֶס (ʾepes, nothing or nought) carries the same root toward what is absent after an ending, while the exchange moves on to cattle.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāphes: To cease or come to an end.
אָפֵס
It describes money reaching its limit, rather than merely performing badly.
ʾepes: Nothing, nought, or an end.
אֶפֶס
This branch lets the root hold both the ending and the nothing left when something is gone.
מִקְנֵיכֶם
miqneikhem
GROWS FROM
קנה
q-n-h
To acquire, buy, or possess.
The word for “cattle” comes from the root of acquiring and possessing. The livestock is not only animal life here; it is accumulated property that can be converted into provision.
ALSO GROWS
qānâ: To acquire or buy.
קָנָה
It reveals the possession embedded in the word for livestock.
miqneh: Livestock or acquired property.
מִקְנֶה
This is the form behind “your cattle,” naming the animals as transferable possessions.
THE PATTERN
A shortage does not make provision disappear; it moves through what remains available.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:THE THREAD
And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth.The same Hebrew root אָפֵס (ʾāphes, come to an end) appears in “money failed.” Verse 15 names the point where money ends; verse 16 shows cattle entering the exchange after that point.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us