What Does Deuteronomy 22:27 Mean in the King James?

For he found her in the field, and the betrothed damsel cried, and there was none to save her.

Deuteronomy 22:27 · KJV

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

Where no human deliverer appears, the verse itself bears witness to her cry.

THE MEANING

A woman’s cry under assault remains a true account of danger even when nobody reaches her. The absence of help describes the failure around her; it does not shift responsibility onto her.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that no rescue means she failed to call out clearly enough.

THE ROOT

צָעֲקָה

tsa'aqah

GROWS FROM

צעק

tsa'aq

To cry out in distress; to raise an urgent call for help.

The English “cried” can sound like a mere sound, but ⁨צעק⁩ (tsa’aq) marks a distress call rising from danger. Scripture uses this root for the outcry of a city and the cry of a threatened people, preserving her voice as testimony even when no deliverer appears.

ALSO GROWS

tse'aqah: Cry, outcry.

צְעָקָה

This noun names an outcry of distress, as in the cry of Sodom (Genesis 18:20); here, one woman’s cry is likewise preserved as a witness to danger.

vayits'aqu: And they cried out.

וַיִּצְעֲקוּ

In Exodus 14:10, this verb describes the threatened Israelites crying out; the same root carries an individual’s cry and a people’s appeal.

מוֹשִׁיעַ

moshia

GROWS FROM

ישע

yasha

To deliver or rescue, bringing someone out of danger and toward spaciousness.

“save” in this verse is moshia. ⁨מוֹשִׁיעַ⁩ (moshia) names an active deliverer, someone who brings another out of danger; the verse names the absence of that person. This root also forms ⁨יְשׁוּעָה⁩ (yeshuah, deliverance) and the name ⁨יֵשׁוּעַ⁩ (Yeshua), carrying deliverance as both an act and a personal nature.

ALSO GROWS

yeshuah: Deliverance, rescue.

יְשׁוּעָה

This noun names the rescue missing from the scene: she has cried out, but no deliverance is enacted.

hoshia: He delivered, rescued.

הוֹשִׁיעַ

This verb names the act a deliverer performs, giving the absent ⁨מוֹשִׁיעַ⁩ (moshia) a concrete meaning.

Yeshua: Yeshua, a personal name carrying the root of deliverance.

יֵשׁוּעַ

The name carries the same yasha seed, joining deliverance with the nature of the one who delivers.

THE PATTERN

Scripture treats a cry as real need whether the surrounding response delivers, silences, or leaves the sufferer without aid.

For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

Psalm 72:12 · KJVThe needy person’s cry and lack of a helper are stated plainly, and the response is measured by whether deliverance comes.

And many charged him that he should hold his peace: but he cried the more a great deal, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me.

Mark 10:48 · KJVThe crowd’s attempt to silence him does not erase the reality of his need or his cry.

And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Luke 10:34 · KJVHere the response to visible injury becomes concrete care: the helper reaches the wounded man and tends his wounds.

THE THREAD

The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.

Psalm 34:17 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨צעק⁩ (tsa’aq, “cry out”), the language of an audible distress call. Psalm 34 depicts hearing and deliverance; Deuteronomy names the stark absence of a human deliverer, without making that absence the woman’s fault.

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