What Does Genesis 49:31 Mean in the King James?

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

Genesis 49:31 · 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 family tomb gathers generations, but Isaac’s name keeps laughter inside the burial roll.

THE MEANING

The same ground gathers a family across generations without erasing anyone’s name. Jacob’s “I buried Leah” keeps one act of grief personal within that shared place.

THE ROOT

קָבַר

qābar

GROWS FROM

קבר

To bury, to place in a grave.

“buried” in this verse is qābar. The root also forms the word for the grave itself: Hebrew holds the act of burial and its lasting place in the same family of words. The repeated “there” makes that shared place central to the verse.

ALSO GROWS

qeber: Grave, tomb.

קֶבֶר

The place named by this branch gives the repeated “there” a concrete shape: this family gathers in a shared tomb.

qevurah: Burial, interment.

קְבוּרָה

This branch names the act itself, linking Jacob’s personal burial of Leah to the family’s wider resting place.

יִצְחָק

Yitzchak

GROWS FROM

צחק

To laugh.

Isaac’s name grows from ⁨צחק⁩ (tzachaq, “to laugh”). The burial roll therefore carries laughter within its genealogy of loss: the name preserves a living trace of joy.

ALSO GROWS

tsechoq: Laughter.

צְחֹק

This branch makes the meaning within Isaac’s name audible as the family is gathered into the grave.

metzaḥeq: Laughing, playing.

מְצַחֵק

This active form shows the root as lived action, adding a trace of play to the name Isaac bears here.

THE PATTERN

Burial places anchor particular grief in ground shared across generations.

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 23:19 · KJVSarah’s burial at Machpelah gives a named place to a particular loss, the same place later named as the family’s shared tomb.

For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

Genesis 50:13 · KJVJacob’s burial returns the family to the ground where Abraham and Sarah were laid.

There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

John 19:42 · KJVJesus’ body is placed in a specific nearby tomb, anchoring grief in a place that can be remembered.

THE THREAD

And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre: the same is Hebron in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 23:19 · KJV

Genesis 23:19 uses ⁨קָבַר⁩ (qābar, “bury”) when Abraham buries Sarah at Machpelah. Genesis 49:31 uses the same root for the family buried there, linking Sarah’s burial to the generations gathered in that place.

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