What Does Genesis 50:16 Mean in the King James?
And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,
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 behind “sent a messenger” and “did command” comes from the same root, so the message carries a command within a command.
THE MEANING
A message can reach you carrying another voice inside it: one speaker speaks under a command attributed to someone else. The verse keeps the layers visible, the brothers speak to Joseph, then place their words inside what they say Jacob commanded. Its force travels through both the message and the voice named within it.
THE ROOT
וַיְצַוּוּ
vayetsavvu
GROWS FROM
צוה
tsavah
to command or charge
“sent a messenger / commanded” in this verse is vayetsavvu. The Hebrew verb behind both the brothers’ opening action and the father’s instruction comes from this root. English gives you a messenger followed by a command; the repeated root lets you hear the whole relay reverberate with command.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: commandment, instruction
מִצְוָה
The command in this verse belongs to the same word-family as a commandment: it is speech carrying an obligation.
tsav: directive, command
צַו
This branch keeps the force of the message in view: what travels to Joseph is framed as an instruction to be carried out.
לֵאמֹר
lemor
GROWS FROM
אמר
’amar
to say or speak
The verse uses לֵאמֹר, “saying,” twice: one report encloses another. This root’s branches include both utterance and decree, showing how speech here carries more than information, it carries an instruction.
ALSO GROWS
imrah: utterance, saying
אִמְרָה
The verse’s repeated “saying” makes each spoken layer audible.
ma’amar: statement, decree
מַאֲמָר
This branch shows how an utterance can carry the force of an order, as the reported words do here.
יוֹסֵף
Yosef
GROWS FROM
יסף
yasaf
to add or increase
Joseph’s name carries the root “to add,” recalling the naming phrase, “the LORD shall add to me another son.” Here the named recipient receives an added layer of speech: a report carrying a father’s reported command.
ALSO GROWS
hosif: he added, increased
הוֹסִיף
This verb form makes the name’s root meaning explicit.
mosaf: addition, supplement
מוֹסָף
This branch echoes the extra layer of voice added to the brothers’ message.
THE PATTERN
A speaker can carry words received from another, letting authority travel through a human voice.
I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.THE THREAD
So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.The same root אמר (’amar, “say”) that frames both reports in 50:16 opens the next instruction: “So shall ye say.” The reported command then carries a request to סָלַח (salaḥ, “forgive, release”), so the repeated speech frame delivers a plea for release.
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