What Does Judges 8:30 Mean?
And Gideon had seventy sons who came out of his thigh, for he had many wives.
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 Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives.THE KEY
The sons are named as those who “come out” from Gideon’s body, so lineage appears as life moving outward.
THE MEANING
Lineage remains a bodily reality: one life extends beyond itself through children, and the verse makes that extension concrete in Gideon’s seventy sons. It connects this abundance to his many wives, keeping the family line tied to bodies and a household.
THE ROOT
יֹצְאֵי
yotsei
GROWS FROM
יצא
to go out, come forth
Behind “begotten” is יֹצְאֵי (yotsei, “those going out”). The phrase pictures lineage as movement outward from Gideon’s body; this same root can describe a going out or departure, keeping that sense of coming forth in the verse.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: To go out or come forth.
יָצָא
It names the movement the verse uses to picture sons emerging from the body.
yetzi’ah: A going out or departure.
יְצִיאָה
This related form keeps the image of life moving outward rather than remaining contained.
גִּדְעוֹן
Gid’on
GROWS FROM
גדע
to cut down, hew
Gideon’s name is commonly linked to גדע (gadaʿ, “to cut down” or “hew”). Beside a household described through multiplication, the name carries an additional image of cutting; the verse leaves both images present.
ALSO GROWS
gadaʿ: To cut down or hew.
גָּדַע
This is the action associated with the root of Gideon’s name.
Gid’on: Gideon, commonly understood as “hewer” or “one who cuts down.”
גִּדְעוֹן
The name itself carries the root’s cutting image into the verse.
רַבּוֹת
rabbot
GROWS FROM
רבה
to become many, increase
The word for “many” comes from a root of increase. The verse links the household’s size to its many wives, making multiplication an explicit part of how this lineage is presented.
ALSO GROWS
rav: Many or great.
רַב
It carries the root’s sense of abundance.
harbeh: Much or many.
הַרְבֵּה
This related form makes the root’s movement toward increase audible in the verse’s emphasis on number.
THE PATTERN
Life moves outward from a bodily source, becoming a lineage and a wider human family.
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This one will not be your heir, but the one who comes forth from your own body will be your heir.Look, children are the LORD's portion; and the fruit of the womb is a wage.And he made from one blood every nation of humankind to settle upon all the face of the earth, marking out their fitted seasons and setting the boundary stones of their dwelling.THE THREAD
And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, saying, This one will not be your heir, but the one who comes forth from your own body will be your heir.Both passages use יָצָא (yatsa, “to go out” or “come forth”) for a child coming from a man’s body. Genesis connects that coming forth to heirship; Judges renders bodily lineage as seventy sons.
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