What Does Numbers 13:31 Mean in the King James?

But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

Numbers 13:31 · 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 Hebrew root behind “we are not able” also means “prevail,” holding capacity and prevailing in one verb family.

THE MEANING

The report sets two claims side by side: the people are stronger, and therefore the speakers cannot go up. That move from comparison to impossibility remains recognizable whenever opposition is treated as the final measure of what is possible.

THE ROOT

נוּכַל

nukhal

GROWS FROM

יכל

To be able or capable; to prevail.

The speakers negate ⁨יכל⁩ (yakol), turning their assessment of the opposing strength into a verdict on their own capacity. Elsewhere the same root describes prevailing, a connection English divides between “able” and “prevail.”

ALSO GROWS

yukhal: He can; he will be able.

יוּכַל

This form names capacity in the same verb family as ⁨נוּכַל⁩ (nukhal), the “we are able” negated in the verse.

vatukhal: And you prevailed.

וַתּוּכַל

Genesis 32:28 uses this form of the same root for prevailing, showing the other outcome that the root can name.

THE PATTERN

A visible imbalance of strength becomes a verdict on possibility when capacity is treated as settled before the encounter.

And Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him: for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.

1 Samuel 17:33 · KJVSaul likewise reads an opponent’s greater strength as proof that David cannot face him.

For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Luke 1:37 · KJVThis verse opens possibility beyond the limits declared by a visible situation.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

2 Corinthians 12:10 · KJVHere weakness and strength do not settle into the simple equation that the stronger side prevails.

THE THREAD

And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Genesis 32:28 · KJV

“We are not able” uses ⁨נוּכַל⁩ (nukhal), from ⁨יכל⁩ (yakol, to be able or prevail). In this verse, ⁨וַתּוּכַל⁩ (vatukhal), from the same root, is translated “hast prevailed.”

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