What Does Exodus 22:9 Mean in the King James?
For all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before the judges; and whom the judges shall condemn, he shall pay double unto his neighbour.
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 verse calls both the alleged trespass and the parties’ cause a *davar*, a word and a matter, so the claim itself becomes what judgment must weigh.
THE MEANING
When a lost thing becomes the subject of competing claims, neither claim settles its ownership; the matter comes before judges. The one they find responsible pays double to the neighbor. Loss, accusation, judgment, and restitution remain joined in one sequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that an accusation makes guilt self-evident: both parties’ matter comes before judges, and repayment follows their finding.
THE ROOT
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak; a word or matter.
The verse uses דבר (*davar*, “word; matter”) twice: KJV first renders it “manner” in “all manner of trespass,” then “cause” in “the cause of both parties.” The shared word ties the alleged breach to the matter brought before judgment.
ALSO GROWS
*davar*: Word, matter, or thing.
דָּבָר
It is the noun behind both “manner” and “cause” in the verse, joining what is alleged to what must be judged.
*dibber*: Spoke or said.
דִּבֵּר
This verb from the same root shows the link between a spoken claim and the matter that comes before the judges.
אֲבֵדָה
avēdāh
GROWS FROM
אבד
To perish, be lost, or disappear.
“lost thing” in this verse is avēdāh. The property is named by its lost state, from a root meaning to perish or disappear. Its disappearance is clear, but who owns it remains to be judged.
ALSO GROWS
*avad*: Perish or be lost.
אָבַד
This verb names the condition that brings the object into dispute.
*oved*: One who is lost or perishing.
אֹבֵד
The same root describes loss as a condition, while the verse makes ownership of the lost thing the question for judgment.
*avaddon*: Destruction or ruin.
אֲבַדּוֹן
This branch carries the root’s movement from something lost toward what has disappeared or been destroyed.
פֶּשַׁע
pesha
GROWS FROM
פשע
Breach, rebellion, or breaking away.
The opening category translated “trespass” carries the sense of rebellion or breach. The verse holds that possible break in the neighbor’s claim to a hearing, then attaches a doubled material remedy to the judgment.
ALSO GROWS
*pasha*: Rebel or break away.
פָּשַׁע
The verb shows the action beneath the category of trespass: a breach that may be at issue between neighbors.
*poshea*: One who rebels or breaks away.
פֹּשֵׁעַ
This branch names the person responsible for a breach, a status the verse leaves to the judges to determine.
THE PATTERN
A contested claim is weighed through hearing and judgment, and a finding carries a concrete consequence.
Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days;He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?THE THREAD
When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.The Hebrew rendered “matter” here is *davar*, the same word rendered “cause” in Exodus 22:9. In both verses, a dispute is brought forward and judged between neighbors.
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