What Does Genesis 19:11 Mean in the King James?
And they smote the men that were at the door of the house with blindness, both small and great: so that they wearied themselves to find the door.
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 noun for door also means opening, so the men exhaust themselves searching for access they can no longer see.
THE MEANING
You see violence turn on the men pressing toward the entrance: they are struck with blindness and wear themselves out trying to find the door. Their effort continues, but the opening remains inaccessible to them once their sight is taken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that more effort can always restore access is undone here: the men search until they are exhausted, but their sight does not return.
THE ROOT
פֶּתַח
petaḥ
GROWS FROM
פתח
p-t-ḥ
To open; by extension, an opening or entrance.
The noun פֶּתַח (petaḥ, opening or entrance) keeps the action of opening inside the word English renders as “door.” The men search for access, but blindness makes the opening impossible for them to locate.
ALSO GROWS
pāthaḥ: To open.
פָּתַח
This is the action behind פֶּתַח (petaḥ): an entrance is a place opened for passage, which sharpens the verse’s image of men searching for access.
maphtēaḥ: Key.
מַפְתֵּחַ
A key opens an entrance; this related word keeps the doorway tied to the possibility of access that the men cannot reach.
THE PATTERN
Sightless reaching can turn a nearby path into exhausting search, while opened eyes make access possible.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.THE THREAD
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.Both verses use פֶּתַח (petaḥ, opening or entrance) for the threshold. In Genesis 4:7, sin crouches at the opening; here, men surround the opening yet cannot find it, making the threshold a place where danger and blocked access meet.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us