What Does Exodus 23:5 Mean in the King James?
If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him.
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 rendered “help” also belongs to the word-family of leaving or forsaking, so the command turns on whether the enemy is left beneath the weight.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you as you see someone hostile to you with their animal collapsed beneath its load. The load becomes a shared task: the animal is not left under it, even while the hostility remains.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that someone who hates you forfeits all claim on your help.
THE ROOT
עָזֹב תַּעֲזֹב
ʿāzōv taʿăzōv
GROWS FROM
עזב
Leave, forsake, abandon; in this repeated form, the phrase is understood as helping to unload.
The repeated עזב here is rendered “help,” while the root also speaks of leaving or forsaking. That shared root makes the scene turn on whether the burdened animal is left beneath its load or someone helps remove it.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāzav: To leave, abandon, or forsake
עָזַב
This common verb shows the root’s wider sense beneath the rendering “help.”
ʿazuvah: Forsaken, abandoned
עֲזוּבָה
This form names one who has been left; here, the command answers the possibility of leaving the animal under its burden.
מַשָּׂאוֹ
massa'o
GROWS FROM
נשא
Lift, carry, bear.
“burden” in this verse is massa'o. The word for the load comes from the root for lifting and bearing. English can make “help” sound abstract, but the Hebrew keeps the physical scene in view: weight borne by an animal and work done beside the person who owns it.
ALSO GROWS
nāśāʾ: To lift, carry, or bear
נָשָׂא
The root names the physical action required when the animal is beneath its load.
nāśîʾ: A leader or prince, one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This related form extends the root’s image of lifting into the idea of someone elevated.
THE PATTERN
A person’s hostility does not erase the claim of their immediate need on shared care.
Thou shalt not see thy brother’s ass or his ox fall down by the way, and hide thyself from them: thou shalt surely help him to lift them up again.If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;THE THREAD
Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.The Hebrew verb rendered “forsake” here is עָזַב (ʿāzav), meaning “leave” or “forsake”, the same root behind the repeated verb rendered “help” in Exodus 23:5. Here, not being forsaken is promised; there, help takes the concrete form of sharing the work beside a burdened animal.
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