What Does Judges 13:5 Mean?
For look, you will conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come up upon his head, for the child shall be set apart to God from the womb, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.
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
For, lo, thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.THE KEY
“Nazarite” names a life set apart to God, so the deliverance begins in consecration before any victory appears.
THE MEANING
Here, deliverance begins before the whole people are free: the child is set apart from the womb, and his work starts by bringing Israel out from the Philistines’ hand. The grip remains real while the first movement of release is already underway.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that deliverance only counts once the whole grip is gone: the verse calls its beginning deliverance while the Philistines still hold Israel.
THE ROOT
נָזִיר
nazir
GROWS FROM
נזר
n-z-r
To set apart, dedicate, or separate.
“Nazarite” names one set apart to God; the same root also gives words for consecration and separation, so the hair marks a deeper status rather than being the whole point. Because this setting apart begins “from the womb,” the verse places the beginning of Israel’s deliverance before the child’s strength or public action.
ALSO GROWS
nezer: Consecration or separation; also a crown or diadem.
נֵזֶר
The crown sense gives separation the quality of a marked status, fitting the visible sign of uncut hair.
hinnazer: To separate oneself or refrain.
הִנָּזֵר
This branch shows separation as a boundary; here that boundary is present from the womb, before it can be chosen.
לְהוֹשִׁיעַ
lehoshiaʿ
GROWS FROM
ישע
y-sh-ʿ
To deliver, rescue, or bring into safety.
The verse says the child will “begin” to deliver: the root describes real rescue, while the wording leaves room for the work to unfold. Israel is brought out from the Philistines’ hand, a movement from constriction toward freedom.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance or rescue.
יְשׁוּעָה
This noun names the movement the child begins for Israel.
moshiaʿ: A deliverer or rescuer.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This branch makes deliverance personal: the verse describes a life through whom a people begin to be brought out.
THE PATTERN
The text places a life’s setting apart before birth, before its work becomes visible.
Before I shaped you in the belly, I knew you; and before you came out of the womb, I set you apart, and I gave you to the nations as a prophet.Bend your ear to me, coastlands, and bend your ear, peoples from far. The LORD has called me from the womb; from my mother's inward parts he has spoken my name.But when God was pleased, the one who marked me off from my mother's womb and called me through his favor,THE THREAD
All the days of the vow of his separation no blade shall pass over his head. Until the days are filled, in which he separates himself unto the LORD, he shall be set apart, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow and run free.Judges calls the child נָזִיר (nazir, one set apart); Numbers names the separation נֵזֶר (nezer, consecration or separation), from the same root נזר (n-z-r, set apart). Numbers makes the uncut hair a visible sign of that status; here, the sign begins from the womb and is tied to Israel’s deliverance.
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