What Does Genesis 50:9 Mean in the King James?

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.

Genesis 50:9 · 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 Hebrew calls the company “heavy,” linking its great size to the same root that names glory as weight.

THE MEANING

The procession’s scale becomes tangible: chariots, horsemen, and a company described as weighty move together. A loss can gather many around the person carrying it, letting inward grief become visible in shared presence.

THE ROOT

כָּבֵד

kaved

GROWS FROM

כבד

K-B-D

To be heavy or weighty.

“very great” in this verse is kaved. The Hebrew describes the company as heavy, making its greatness something felt as weight. The same root forms words for weight, honor, and glory, joining magnitude and significance in one image.

ALSO GROWS

kavod: Weight; honor or glory.

כָּבוֹד

The shared root reveals why glory can carry the sense of weight or significance.

kibbed: To honor; to give weight to.

כִּבֵּד

To honor someone is to treat them as weighty, extending the root’s image from size to regard.

THE PATTERN

Scripture makes greatness tangible as weight, whether it appears as burden, presence, or glory.

Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

Exodus 18:18 · KJVThe same ⁨כבד⁩ (kaved, heavy) root describes a burden whose weight exceeds one person’s capacity.

So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

1 Kings 8:11 · KJVThe related ⁨כָּבוֹד⁩ (kavod, weight; glory) fills the house so fully that the priests cannot stand.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

2 Corinthians 4:17 · KJVThe verse places affliction and glory on a scale of weight, making significance tangible.

THE THREAD

Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

Exodus 18:18 · KJV

The same ⁨כבד⁩ (kaved, heavy) root calls the workload too heavy for one person. Here it makes the company’s scale tangible; there it measures how much one person can bear, so size and burden emerge from the same word-seed.

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