What Does Genesis 50:15 Mean in the King James?
And when Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto 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
The line turns guilt into a forecast of retaliation: “requite” is their fear that the harm they dealt will return to them.
THE MEANING
When guilt is active, possible rejection can feel like certain payback. The mind turns harm into a mirror, expecting the same measure to return from the person it has injured. That certainty is fear speaking ahead of any declared intent.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Guilt does not give you knowledge of another person’s intent: a feared return of harm can feel certain without being promised.
THE ROOT
הָשֵׁב יָשִׁיב
hāshēv yāshīv
GROWS FROM
שוב
shuv
Turn back, return.
The phrase’s literal shape is “returning, he will surely return,” with the return verb doubled for emphasis. “Requite” carries the image of harm circling back as repayment.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: Turn, return.
שׁוּב
The root makes the feared repayment a return: what they did to Joseph comes back toward them.
hēshīv: Bring back, restore, or return something.
הֵשִׁיב
This causative form gives the fear its shape: Joseph will send the harm back upon them.
יִשְׂטְמֵנוּ
yistemēnû
GROWS FROM
שׂטם
śāṭam
Bear a grudge or hold enmity.
“hate” in this verse is yistemēnû. The word reaches beyond a passing flash of anger to hostility held against someone. The brothers fear a lasting grudge in Joseph, though the verse gives his intent only as their suspicion.
ALSO GROWS
vayistom: He bore enmity.
וַיִּשְׂטֹם
This form describes Esau’s grudge against Jacob, showing the root’s force of sustained hostility.
vayistmehu: They bore him hatred.
וַיִּשְׂטְמֵהוּ
The same root describes the archers’ hostility toward Joseph, linking hatred with an ongoing threat.
גָּמַלְנוּ אֹתוֹ
gāmalnû ʾōtô
GROWS FROM
גמל
gamal
Deal with someone, render treatment, or recompense.
“did unto him” in this verse is gāmalnû ʾōtô. The brothers describe not just an abstract wrong but how they dealt with Joseph. This root can also name recompense, so their fear turns their past treatment into a debt they expect to be returned.
ALSO GROWS
gāmal: Deal with, treat, or repay.
גָּמַל
This verb underlies “did unto him,” placing their wrongdoing in the language of treatment given to another.
gemul: Recompense, reward, or repayment.
גְּמוּל
This related noun makes explicit the return-of-treatment logic that fills their fear.
THE PATTERN
The expectation that past harm must return as matching harm is interrupted by a response that refuses retaliation.
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.And he said to David, Thou art more righteous than I: for thou hast rewarded me good, whereas I have rewarded thee evil.Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men.THE THREAD
But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.Genesis 50:20 repeats רָעָה (raʿah, evil or harm) from this verse. It keeps the wrongdoing named as evil while opening a future beyond the brothers’ imagined payback.
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