What Does Deuteronomy 25:11 Mean in the King James?
When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth near for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and putteth forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets:
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 Hebrew verb behind “putteth forth” also carries the sense of sending away and releasing, so the rescue begins as a hand reaching into the violence.
THE MEANING
You see a wife move into a fight to pull her husband from the man striking him, then seize that man by his genitals. The verse holds rescue and bodily humiliation in the same scene. The Hebrew word for the genitals is rooted in the language of shame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that rescue always happens from a safe distance dissolves here: she reaches into the physical struggle.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁלְחָה
weshalechah
GROWS FROM
שלח
Shalach means send forth, send away, or release.
“putteth forth” in this verse is weshalechah. The verb says she sends her hand outward; the same root carries the sense of release and extending the hand. Rescue is expressed as a reach into the striker’s hold, not as an abstract wish.
ALSO GROWS
shilleaḥ: send away; release
שִׁלֵּחַ
This form shows that sending out and letting go belong to the same root family.
mishlaḥ yad: the extension or reach of the hand
מִשְׁלַח יָד
This phrase uses the same root for a hand’s reach, echoing the wife’s extended hand in the verse.
בִּמְבֻשָׁיו
bimevushav
GROWS FROM
בוש
Bosh means to be ashamed or feel shame.
The word translated “secrets” names the man’s genitals and is linked to the root for shame. That connection places shame inside the word for the bodily target, deepening the scene’s humiliating force.
ALSO GROWS
yevosh: he will be ashamed
יֵבוֹשׁ
Its consonants preserve the same ב־ו־ש root that underlies the word for the genitals.
yevoshu: they will be ashamed
יֵבֹשׁוּ
This plural form carries the same root, tying the bodily word to the language of shame.
וְקָרְבָה
veqarvah
GROWS FROM
קרב
Qarav means approach, come near, or bring close.
“draweth near” in this verse is veqarvah. The wife’s action begins by crossing the distance into the struggle. The same root also names an offering brought near, so nearness here is movement into reach.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: near; close
קָרוֹב
It describes the closeness toward which the wife moves.
qorban: offering; that which is brought near
קָרְבָּן
It carries the same root of approaching and bringing close, reinforcing that nearness is active.
THE PATTERN
Rescue moves toward an endangered person and reaches into the power holding them.
Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.This man was taken of the Jews, and should have been killed of them: then came I with an army, and rescued him, having understood that he was a Roman.THE THREAD
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives.The Hebrew verb translated “deliver” here and “rescued” in Samuel comes from the same root, נצל (natsal), meaning to snatch away or rescue. Here a wife acts to free her husband; there David rescues his two wives, and the same root names both acts.
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