What Does Judges 6:16 Mean?
And the LORD said to him, Surely I will be with you, and you will strike down the Midianites as one man.
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 LORD said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.THE KEY
The answer to Gideon’s smallness is not hidden strength in Gideon, but the presence that stands with him.
THE MEANING
When the work before you feels larger than your capacity, this verse locates the hinge in the presence beside you, not in a revised estimate of your own strength. The promise remains concrete and fierce: Gideon is told he will strike Midian as one man.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your limits are the final measure of what can happen.
THE ROOT
אֶהְיֶה עִמָּךְ
ehyeh immakh
GROWS FROM
היה
h-y-h
to be, become, or happen
“will be with thee” in this verse is ehyeh immakh. The Hebrew says, literally, “I will be with you,” using the same form, אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh, “I will be”), found in the promise to Moses in Exodus 3:12. The verse places Gideon’s coming action beside this promise of presence; it does not present the outcome as a discovery of strength within Gideon.
ALSO GROWS
ehyeh: I will be
אֶהְיֶה
The same form appears in the promise to Moses, linking the presence with Gideon to the presence promised in another daunting commission.
wayhi: and it came to pass
וַיְהִי
This common form of the same root uses “being” language for what happens, bringing presence and what comes to pass into the same word-family.
הִכִּיתָ
hikkita
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
to strike or smite
“strike down” in this verse is hikkita. This is a forceful verb: its root also names a blow and someone struck. The promise is of an actual defeat of Midian; “as one man” gives the action concentrated form without making its violence disappear.
ALSO GROWS
makkah: a blow, wound, or plague
מַכָּה
The related noun makes the physical force of Gideon’s promised action audible beneath the English “smite.”
mukkeh: one who is struck
מֻכֶּה
This related form names the person receiving the blow, keeping the verse’s promised defeat concrete.
THE PATTERN
Presence accompanies a difficult commission before the work is done.
And he said, Surely I will be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.Do not fear before their faces, for I am with you to snatch you out, declares the LORD.Teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion of the age. Amen.THE THREAD
And he said, Surely I will be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.Moses hears the same promise Gideon hears: “I will be with you.” Both use אֶהְיֶה (ehyeh, “I will be”), from היה (hayah, “to be, become, or happen”), placing presence at the center of both commissions.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us