What Does Judges 19:11 Mean?
When they were by Jebus, the day had sunk far down; and the servant said to his master, Come, I pray you, and let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.
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 when they were by Jebus, the day was far spent; and the servant said unto his master, Come, I pray thee, and let us turn in into this city of the Jebusites, and lodge in it.THE KEY
The servant’s “turn in” is the hinge: the Hebrew says “turn aside,” making a change of direction the first step toward a place to spend the night.
THE MEANING
The day is already descending when the servant proposes a place to lodge. The need for shelter is immediate, but the verse leaves safety unresolved; a destination is not yet a refuge. You can feel the pressure of needing a place before you know what it holds.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief is that finding a place to sleep means danger has passed; here, lodging is only a proposal, and safety remains unsettled.
THE ROOT
וְנָסוּרָה
wə-nāsūrāh
GROWS FROM
סור
The root סוּר (sûr, turn aside or depart) describes a change of direction; in a causative form, it can mean remove or take away.
“turn aside” in this verse is wə-nāsūrāh. “Turn in” can sound like simply stopping for the night, but the Hebrew first marks a turn toward somewhere. The verb names the direction of movement; the place they choose gives that movement its consequence.
ALSO GROWS
sûr: Turn aside or depart.
סוּר
This is the verb’s basic sense in the servant’s proposal: they are choosing where to turn.
hēsîr: Cause something to turn away; remove it.
הֵסִיר
The same root can describe removing something from a place, revealing how turning and taking away share a seed.
רַד
rad
GROWS FROM
ירד
The root יָרַד (yārad, go down or descend) describes downward movement.
“the day had sunk far down” in this verse is rad. The day is pictured as going down, not merely as a measure of time running out. That descent makes the choice of where to lodge feel immediate.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: Go down or descend.
יָרַד
This is the movement behind the verse’s description of the day drawing toward night.
hôrîd: Bring or take something down.
הוֹרִיד
The causative form keeps the same downward movement while showing that the root can describe both descending and causing descent.
יְבוּסִי
yevusi
GROWS FROM
בוס
The root בּוּס (bûs, tread down or trample) is traditionally connected with the name Jebus, though the name’s etymology is uncertain.
“Jebusites” in this verse is yevusi. The city name carries a possible echo of trampling just as it is proposed as a place to lodge. It is an unsettling resonance in the scene, not a certainty about the place or what will happen there.
ALSO GROWS
bûs: Trample or tread underfoot.
בּוּס
This is the root traditionally associated with the city’s name.
Yevus: The place-name Jebus.
יְבוּס
The name can make the proposed destination sound more charged than the English “city” alone, while its derivation remains uncertain.
THE PATTERN
At day’s end, a request to enter a house reveals that shelter and safety are not the same thing.
And he said, Look now, my lords, turn aside, I pray you, into your servant's house, and lodge all night, and wash your feet, and rise early and go on your way. And they said, No, but we will lodge in the street all night.But they pressed him, saying, Stay with us, for it is toward evening, and the day has already leaned. And he went in to stay with them.THE THREAD
Do not be wise in your own eyes. Be in awe of the LORD, and turn aside from harm.The Hebrew verb סוּר (sûr, turn aside or depart) appears in both verses: here it points toward a city, and in Proverbs it points away from evil. The root itself gives the turn; what follows determines its direction.
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