What Does Judges 7:6 Mean?
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men; but all the rest of the people knelt to drink the waters.
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 number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.THE KEY
The verse marks a difference in how thirst is met, while the thirst and water are shared.
THE MEANING
The same need appears in two postures: some bring water to their mouths with their hands, while the rest bend down to drink. The verse counts the smaller group by what they do, without calling either posture better.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that people respond alike just because they share the same need.
THE ROOT
הַמְלַקְּקִים
hamelaqeqim
GROWS FROM
לקק
l-q-q
To lick or lap up with the tongue.
“lapped” in this verse is hamelaqeqim. The Hebrew word for those who lap comes from a root meaning to lick. That connection makes the action precise: the water reaches the mouth through a repeated, close movement, while the rest bend down to drink.
ALSO GROWS
laqaq: To lick or lap up liquid.
לָקַק
This is the root verb behind the group’s distinctive way of drinking.
melaqqeq: One who licks or laps.
מְלַקֵּק
This participle names a person by the repeated act that distinguishes the group.
מִסְפָּר
mispar
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-f-r
To count or recount.
The same consonants also form words for a book and for telling or recounting. The English “number” can sound like a bare statistic; here it marks a group precisely by the action the verse has just described.
ALSO GROWS
safar: To count, number, or recount.
סָפַר
This verb carries the basic act of counting found in the verse’s “number.”
sefer: A book, scroll, or written document.
סֵפֶר
It shares the root’s consonants and brings counting into the wider family of what is recorded.
sipper: To tell, relate, or recount.
סִפֵּר
It shows that the root can also describe recounting in words.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly frames thirst as a need answered by coming to and receiving water.
Ho, every one who thirsts, come to the waters, and whoever has no silver, come, break open and eat. Yes, come, break open wine and milk, without silver and without price.On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.And the Breath and the bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And let the one who thirsts come. Let whoever wills take the waters of life as a gift.THE THREAD
So he brought the people down to the waters, and the LORD said to Gideon, Every one that lappeth the waters with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him you shall set by himself; likewise every one that kneels to drink.The same Hebrew verb, לִשְׁתּוֹת (lishtot, “to drink”), appears in both verses. Verse 7:5 names the contrasting ways of drinking that verse 7:6 then counts.
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