What Does Judges 14:2 Mean?
And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. Now then, take her for me as a wife.
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
And he came up, and told his father and his mother, and said, I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines: now therefore get her for me to wife.THE KEY
Samson’s “I have seen” becomes “take her for me” in one sentence, turning sight into a request for possession.
THE MEANING
The verse puts a familiar movement in view: a gaze becomes a decision, then a claim. Samson asks his parents to take the woman he has seen as his wife, while she has no voice in the request.
THE ROOT
קְחוּ
qechu
GROWS FROM
לקח
laqach
To take, receive, or take away.
“take her for me as a wife” in this verse is qechu. The Hebrew imperative means “take,” and Samson addresses it to his parents; לִי means “for me.” The wording makes his desire a request that they obtain her on his behalf.
ALSO GROWS
leqichah: Taking or acquisition.
לְקִיחָה
This branch makes the taking shade in Samson’s request visible.
leqach: Teaching or instruction.
לֶקַח
This branch names what is received as teaching; in this verse, the requested taking concerns a person.
רָאִיתִי
ra'iti
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
To see, look at, or perceive.
This root appears in words for seeing and for appearance. Here “I have seen” is followed immediately by “take her,” making sight the hinge between attention and action.
ALSO GROWS
mar'eh: Appearance or sight.
מַרְאֶה
This branch keeps the focus on what comes into view before Samson makes his request.
ro'eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
This branch names the perceiver, bringing attention back to the one whose gaze drives the sentence.
THE PATTERN
When desire makes the gaze decisive, seeing can be followed by an attempt to take.
And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and that it was a craving for the eyes, and a tree to be desired for making one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came in to him, and he lay with her. For she was setting herself apart from her uncleanness, and she turned back to her house.For all that is in the world, the craving of the flesh, and the craving of the eyes, and the swagger of life, does not come out of the Father, but comes out of the world.THE THREAD
And the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and that it was a craving for the eyes, and a tree to be desired for making one wise. And she took of its fruit and ate, and gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.Genesis uses the same two roots, ראה (ra’ah, “see”) and לקח (laqach, “take”), as the scene moves from looking to taking. The repeated sequence makes the movement in Judges visible: seeing is followed by a request to take.
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