What Does Judges 19:21 Mean?
So he brought him into his house, and gave fodder to the donkeys; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
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
So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses: and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.THE KEY
The scene gathers every visible sign of welcome, yet being received is not the same as being protected.
THE MEANING
Care takes bodily form here: shelter, feed for the animals, washed feet, food, and drink. Yet a welcome can look complete while failing to make a guest safe; receiving someone and protecting them are not the same act.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A roof, a meal, and gestures of care do not by themselves mean a person is safe.
THE ROOT
רַגְלֵיהֶם
raglehem
GROWS FROM
רגל
ragal
Foot; movement on foot.
The body part and the act of going about share the same consonants: these feet carry the traveler’s journey into the house. Washing them attends to the road still carried on the body.
ALSO GROWS
regel: Foot, leg, or step.
רֶגֶל
This noun names the body part the host tends.
ragal: To go about on foot; by extension, to spy out.
רָגַל
This verbal branch joins feet with movement through space, giving the washed feet the trace of a journey.
וַיְבִיאֵהוּ
vayvi'ehu
GROWS FROM
בוא
bo
To come or enter; in a causative form, to bring someone in.
“brought” in this verse is vayvi'ehu. The verb carries the sense of causing someone to come: the host makes the traveler cross the threshold. Welcome begins as an opening into shelter, not merely a feeling toward a guest.
ALSO GROWS
bo: To come or enter.
בּוֹא
The root action is the traveler’s movement into a place.
mavo: Entrance or entryway.
מָבוֹא
The same root names the way in, making the threshold part of the welcome.
וַיִּרְחֲצוּ
vayirchatsu
GROWS FROM
רחץ
rachats
To wash or bathe.
“washed” in this verse is vayirchatsu. The verb belongs to the broad action of washing or bathing, while the verse places it in a simple act of care for tired feet. Hospitality reaches the body directly, through water and refreshment.
ALSO GROWS
rachats: To wash or bathe.
רָחַץ
This verbal form names the same broad action as the verse’s washing.
rechitsah: Washing or bathing.
רְחִיצָה
The related noun shows the action as a whole practice of cleansing.
THE PATTERN
Hospitality becomes visible through practical care for guests and travelers: shelter, washing, rest, and food.
Let a little water be taken, please, and wash your feet, and lean yourselves under the tree.And the man came into the house; and he unbound his camels, and gave straw and fodder for the camels, and waters to wash his feet, and the feet of the men who were with him.Good works bear witness to her, if she has nurtured children, if she has opened her house to strangers, if she has washed the feet of the set-apart ones, if she has come to the aid of the pressed, if she has followed after every good work.THE THREAD
Let a little water be taken, please, and wash your feet, and lean yourselves under the tree.“Wash” uses the same Hebrew root for washing or bathing in both verses. The repeated verb makes water for travelers’ feet a shared language of welcome, offered alongside rest.
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