What Does Judges 20:42 Mean?
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel toward the way of the wilderness; but the battle clung to them; and those who came out of the cities, they brought down in the midst of them.
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
Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel unto the way of the wilderness; but the battle overtook them; and them which came out of the cities they destroyed in the midst of them.THE KEY
The Hebrew verb for “overtook” carries the force of clinging: the battle catches the fugitives as if it will not let go.
THE MEANING
The verse holds a retreat that does not end the violence: the fleeing men are overtaken, and those coming out of the cities are destroyed among them. The word behind “overtook” carries the sense of sticking fast, so the pursuit closes the distance until it reaches them.
THE ROOT
הִדְבִּיקָתְהוּ
hidbiqathu
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
To cling, stick fast, or adhere; in this verb form, to catch up with or overtake.
“clung to” in this verse is hidbiqathu. The verb makes the battle more than a force advancing from behind: it adheres to those running until it reaches them. English “overtook” gives the event, while the Hebrew also carries the sense of a pursuit that will not break off.
ALSO GROWS
dāvaq: To cling or cleave.
דָּבַק
In Genesis 2:24, this is the word translated “cleave”; the same root’s image of close attachment gives the pursuit here its force.
dāveqah: She clung or followed closely.
דָּבְקָה
In Psalm 63:8, the soul “followeth hard” after God; the same root describes pursuit that stays close, though here the pursuer is the battle.
THE PATTERN
In battle, a fleeing force can be overtaken as pursuit closes the route and destruction reaches the fugitives.
And the host of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his host was scattered from him.And the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from the face of the Philistines, and fell pierced on mount Gilboa.THE THREAD
And the host of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his host was scattered from him.The word translated “overtook” in both verses comes from the root דבק, meaning to cling or stick fast. The shared root makes pursuit feel like a closing attachment: the army catches the fleeing king, as the battle catches the fleeing men.
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