What Does Genesis 19:8 Mean in the King James?
Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof.
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
Lot invokes his roof as protection for the male guests while offering his daughters to the mob’s sexual violence.
THE MEANING
Here, Lot claims protection for the male guests by offering his daughters after the crowd demands the men. “As is good in your eyes” hands the decision to the attackers, while his daughters have no voice in the bargain. Their safety is surrendered to preserve the men’s.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A host’s claim to protect his guests does not justify offering his daughters’ bodies to the attackers.
THE ROOT
יָדְעוּ
yāḏəʿû
GROWS FROM
ידע
Know, recognize, perceive, experience; the verb can also refer to sexual relations.
The same verb describes the crowd’s demand to “know” Lot’s visitors and Lot’s claim that his daughters have not “known” a man. Its sense of embodied knowing makes clear that Lot is offering them to sexual violence, not speaking of an abstract threat.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, knowing
דַּעַת
This noun carries the same root into the idea of knowledge, joining recognition and lived experience in one word family.
hôdîaʿ: To make known, tell, declare
הוֹדִיעַ
This branch turns knowing into disclosure; here, the daughters’ own words are absent from the decision made about their bodies.
THE PATTERN
When one person’s body or life is made the price of others’ protection, protective reasoning becomes part of the violence.
Behold, here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto you: but unto this man do not so vile a thing.Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.THE THREAD
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.“Knew” here is the same verb, יָדְעוּ (yāḏəʿû), as “have not known a man.” In Genesis 4:1 it describes sexual union and conception, making the bodily meaning, and the threat in Lot’s offer, plain.
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