What Does Genesis 50:5 Mean in the King James?
My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.
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
Jacob’s grave is already prepared, but the oath makes his burial a living claim on Joseph’s future.
THE MEANING
The verse names death plainly: Jacob is dying, and his body is to be buried in the grave he dug in Canaan. His request gives Joseph’s grief a concrete direction, and Joseph’s promise to return keeps the bond active across their separation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that death makes a person’s words powerless: Jacob’s request still shapes Joseph’s actions.
THE ROOT
הִשְׁבִּיעַנִי
hishbi'ani
GROWS FROM
שבע
sh-b-ʿ
To swear or bind by an oath; the same root forms the word for seven.
“made me swear” in this verse is hishbi'ani. The Hebrew verb for swearing shares its root with שבע (sheva, “seven”). That sound-link gives the promise a solemn, binding force: Joseph’s words carry the request forward beyond Jacob’s death.
ALSO GROWS
shevu'ah: oath
שְׁבוּעָה
This is the noun for the binding promise Joseph recalls when he asks to go bury Jacob.
sheva: seven
שֶׁבַע
It shares the root consonants with the oath word, revealing a connection English does not show.
קִבְרִי
qivri
GROWS FROM
קבר
q-b-r
To bury or inter.
Hebrew keeps the grave and the act of burial in the same root: the prepared place is the physical form of the verb. The promise is not abstract remembrance; it names the return of Jacob’s body to the place he chose.
ALSO GROWS
qavar: to bury
קָבַר
This verb shares the root of “grave,” joining the act Joseph promises to the place Jacob has prepared.
qever: grave, tomb
קֶבֶר
This noun names the burial place itself, the destination at the center of Joseph’s request.
THE PATTERN
A promise can keep a return in motion beyond the speaker’s death.
And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.THE THREAD
And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.The root שבע (sh-b-ʿ), “swear” and “seven,” appears in the oath Joseph recalls here. This earlier scene shows the promise being bound between father and son before Joseph carries it into action.
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