What Does Judges 2:14 Mean?
And the LORD's anger burned hot against Israel, and he gave them into the hands of those who stripped them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they could no longer stand before the faces of their enemies.
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 the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.THE KEY
The Hebrew repeats the same verb for both “delivered” and “sold,” joining them as one transfer into hostile hands.
THE MEANING
The verse holds anger and exposure together: the people are handed into the reach of those who plunder them, with enemies closing in from every side. The loss ends in a collapse of footing; they can no longer stand before what opposes them.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the idea that divine anger is only inward or symbolic: here it is shown as a transfer of power that leaves people exposed and unable to stand.
THE ROOT
וַיִּמְכְּרֵם
wayimkerem
GROWS FROM
מכר
to sell; to transfer into another’s possession
The Hebrew repeats וַיִּמְכְּרֵם (wayimkerem, “he sold them”) in both clauses, while the KJV renders the first instance “delivered” and the second “sold.” That repetition makes both lines one image of transfer into hostile hands, with the force of dispossession still present in the first clause.
ALSO GROWS
mimkar: sale; something sold
מִמְכָּר
This noun keeps the transaction sense visible in the verse’s repeated image of people transferred into another power’s control.
mokher: seller
מוֹכֵר
This branch names the agent in a sale and echoes the verse’s striking portrayal of the LORD as the one who transfers them.
לַעֲמֹד
la'amod
GROWS FROM
עמד
to stand; take one’s position
The verse closes with לַעֲמֹד (la’amod), “to stand,” and the same root forms מַעֲמָד (ma’amad), “position” or “standing place.” The loss is expressed as losing the place from which they might hold their ground, not only as defeat in a fight.
ALSO GROWS
'amad: to stand; remain upright
עָמַד
The base verb makes the final inability a loss of standing and footing.
ma'amad: position; standing place
מַעֲמָד
This branch sharpens the image of having no position from which to face the surrounding enemies.
THE PATTERN
When people are transferred into hostile power, their loss of protection becomes visible as the loss of ground.
So the LORD's anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Chushanrishathaim king of Mesopotamia, and the children of Israel served Chushanrishathaim eight years.And when they forgot the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.Therefore God gave them over in the cravings of their hearts into uncleanness, for their bodies to be made weightless among themselves.THE THREAD
You sell your people for no wealth, and you do not increase by their price.The same Hebrew root מכר appears in “Thou sellest.” Psalm 44:12 names the transfer without profit, making the word in Judges feel like a stark handing over into another power’s control.
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