What Does Exodus 22:17 Mean in the King James?
If her father utterly refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of virgins.
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 father’s emphatic refusal ends the marriage, but the man’s obligation remains, measured out in silver.
THE MEANING
The father’s refusal blocks the marriage, and the man still owes money measured against the bride-price of virgins. The verse gives the refusal to the father and leaves the woman’s own consent unspoken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A refused marriage means nothing more is owed. Here the refusal changes the form of the obligation; it does not erase it.
THE ROOT
מָאֵן יְמָאֵן
ma’en yĕma’en
GROWS FROM
מאן
ma’an
Refuse, decline, be unwilling.
“utterly refuse” in this verse is ma’en yĕma’en. The Hebrew intensifies refusal by using the same root twice: an infinitive absolute followed by the finite verb. That emphasis makes the father’s refusal decisive, while the man’s obligation carries forward as measured silver.
ALSO GROWS
ma’en: To refuse; the infinitive absolute form in this phrase.
מָאֵן
Its repetition adds emphasis to the refusal.
yĕma’en: He refuses; the finite verb completing the emphatic phrase.
יְמָאֵן
Together, the two forms convey the force of “utterly refuse.”
יִשְׁקֹל
yishqol
GROWS FROM
שקל
shaqal
Weigh, weigh out.
What the KJV renders “pay money” is literally “weigh silver”: the phrase names a physical act of measuring. The payment is tied to a stated bride-price, making the obligation concrete.
ALSO GROWS
sheqel: Shekel; a weight-based unit and currency measure.
שֶׁקֶל
The same root links weighing silver with the named unit used to measure it.
mishqal: Weight; a weighing or measure.
מִשְׁקָל
This related form keeps the idea of measured weight visible beneath the payment.
THE PATTERN
A changed outcome does not erase the concrete obligation created by an earlier act.
If a man shall steal an ox, or a sheep, and kill it, or sell it; he shall restore five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
And Abraham hearkened unto Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the silver, which he had named in the audience of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, current money with the merchant.Both passages use שקל (shaqal, “weigh”) for silver payment. Genesis makes the measure explicit, opening the phrase “pay money” here as the concrete act of weighing out silver.
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