What Does Genesis 19:5 Mean in the King James?
And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.
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
“Know” here names the crowd’s demand for sexual access to Lot’s guests by force.
THE MEANING
This verse exposes a crowd demanding that Lot surrender his visitors for sexual use. “Know” translates *yada*, a word for knowing or perceiving that can also name sexual relations; here the demand makes the threat unmistakable. The violence is in the demand itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
“That we may know them” is not a request for information or conversation; the crowd is demanding sexual access without consent.
THE ROOT
יָדַע
yada
GROWS FROM
י־ד־ע
To know, perceive, or recognize, often through encounter; in some contexts, to have sexual relations.
English “know” can sound purely informational, but *yada* also names bodily intimacy. Here the crowd’s demand makes that sexual sense explicit, leaving no room to read it as innocent curiosity.
ALSO GROWS
da’at: Knowledge or understanding.
דַּעַת
This noun shares the root and shows knowing as something grasped or perceived.
yadua: Known or recognized.
יָדוּעַ
This form shows the root’s other side: someone can be known or encountered, not merely spoken about.
THE PATTERN
Scripture uses “know” for sexual relations as well as perception, so the scene carries the word’s intended sense.
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.THE THREAD
Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying, Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.Judges 19:22 repeats the same demand, “that we may know him”, using the same Hebrew verb, *yada*. The parallel makes the force of Genesis 19:5’s wording unmistakable: this is a threat of sexual violence, not a search for information.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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