What Does Judges 1:35 Mean?
But the Amorites were willing to settle in mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, yet the hand of the house of Joseph grew heavy, so that they became subject to forced labor.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.THE KEY
The Amorites remain on the mountain, but the hand over them grows heavy: presence and power are not the same thing.
THE MEANING
A force may remain in place even as another hand becomes weighty enough to impose tribute. The verse holds continued dwelling and subjection together: the people are not driven out, but their power is not equal.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that whatever remains present still holds power: the Amorites remain, yet they become tributaries.
THE ROOT
וַתִּכְבַּד
wattikhbad
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty.
“grew heavy” in this verse is wattikhbad. The Hebrew says the hand became heavy, which is why English renders it as prevailing. Victory here is weight exerted on the people who remain, made visible in the tribute they owe.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy, weighty.
כָּבֵד
This is the same concrete sense carried by the hand in the verse: its power is felt as pressure.
kavod: Weight; the substance or importance of someone.
כָּבוֹד
The shared root connects weight with recognized authority, showing how power becomes something felt by those beneath it.
לָשֶׁבֶת
lashevet
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“dwell” in this verse is lashevet. The dwelling word carries the sense of staying settled. The Amorites remain resident even as the balance of power shifts, so the verse separates residence from sovereignty.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit, dwell, or remain.
יָשַׁב
The verb behind the verse’s dwelling keeps the fact of continued presence in view.
moshav: A dwelling place or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This related form makes the settled place itself visible: people can stay in a place while another power governs them.
THE PATTERN
A people can remain on the land while dominion shifts through subjection rather than expulsion.
And they did not drive out the Canaanites who settled in Gezer, but the Canaanites have settled among the Ephraimites to this day, and have served under forced labor.And it came to pass, when Israel grew strong, that they set the Canaanites to forced labor, and did not utterly drive them out.For he must reign until he has placed all his enemies under his feet.THE THREAD
But Moses' hands were heavy. And they took a stone and set it under him, and he sat upon it. And Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on this side and the other on that side, and his hands were steady until the sun went down.Exodus uses the same כבד root to say Moses’ hands were heavy. In Judges the same weight image marks a hand that imposes tribute; the shared root makes prevailing feel like pressure, while Exodus shows that heaviness can also be exhaustion.
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