What Does Deuteronomy 21:19 Mean in the King James?
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The gate is not scenery: a physical seizure by his parents carries their son from family space into public judgment.
THE MEANING
This line places the reader before a coercive transfer: his father and mother seize him and take him to the elders at the city gate. The judgment begins with bodily force; the verse holds that act and the public hearing in one frame.
THE ROOT
וְתָפְשׂוּ
vetafsu
GROWS FROM
תפש
taphas
grasp, seize, catch; take hold of
“hold” in this verse is vetafsu. The same root names the parents’ act of seizing their son and, in Jeremiah 2:8, the action of those who “handle the law.” It links physical custody with the human handling of judgment and instruction, leaving the body in view even as authority changes hands.
ALSO GROWS
taphas: seize, catch, take hold
תָּפַשׂ
This verbal form names the physical action performed by both parents.
tofēs: one who grasps, handles, or takes hold
תֹּפֵשׂ
Jeremiah uses this form for those who “handle the law,” extending the root from physical grasp to a person’s relation to instruction.
וְהוֹצִיאוּ
vehotsi'u
GROWS FROM
יצא
yatsa
go out, come forth
The form behind “bring” is causative: it makes visible the underlying motion of going out. The verse’s path is spatial and relational at once, the son is moved out from the family sphere toward the city’s public threshold.
ALSO GROWS
yatsa: go out, come forth
יָצָא
This is the underlying motion made causative when the parents bring the son out.
motsa: a going out; an origin or source
מוֹצָא
This noun preserves the same movement as a point of departure or emergence.
THE PATTERN
A disputed matter moves from private life into a shared forum where judgment or settlement becomes visible.
Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.These are the things that ye shall do; Speak ye every man the truth to his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates:Then said Paul, I stand at Cæsar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as thou very well knowest.THE THREAD
The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.The shared root תפש (taphas, “grasp, seize, handle”) names the parents’ act here and forms the phrase “they that handle the law” in Jeremiah. One verse places that grip on a son; the other places it on instruction entrusted to human hands.
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