What Does Genesis 20:4 Mean in the King James?
But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation?
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
Before he argues that a people are righteous, Abimelech names the distance he has kept: the Hebrew root for “come near” also names what is brought near as an offering.
THE MEANING
You can stand at a boundary you have not crossed and still fear that judgment will sweep others into your situation. Abimelech’s question presses for a distinction: does one person’s threatened wrongdoing make an entire people guilty? The verse keeps the danger of collective destruction in view rather than treating it as self-evidently just.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The fear that one person’s alleged wrongdoing automatically makes an entire people deserving of destruction.
THE ROOT
קָרַב
qārab
GROWS FROM
קרב
Draw near; approach.
“come near” in this verse is qārab. The Hebrew word describes physical approach: Abimelech says he has not drawn near to her. The same root forms the word for an offering brought near, linking nearness with an act of approach rather than mere distance.
ALSO GROWS
qārōv: Near or close.
קָרוֹב
It makes the root’s sense of nearness explicit: Abimelech’s claim rests on a boundary of proximity.
qorbān: An offering brought near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shows that the root can name the act of bringing something into approach, not only a state of being close.
צַדִּיק
tsaddiq
GROWS FROM
צדק
Alignment; rightness.
“righteous” in this verse is tsaddiq. The question describes a people as aligned, but this is Abimelech’s plea, not a verdict supplied by the narrator. The root keeps the issue relational: will judgment distinguish alignment from wrongdoing, or treat a whole people as one?
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Justice or rightness; alignment.
צֶדֶק
It links the claim of righteousness with the question of whether judgment itself is rightly aligned.
tsedaqah: Righteousness or justice expressed in action.
צְדָקָה
It carries the same root into enacted justice, sharpening the verse’s concern about what it means to judge a whole people.
THE PATTERN
The verse asks judgment to distinguish an individual’s wrongdoing from the fate of a whole people.
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.Who will render to every man according to his deeds:THE THREAD
But it is good for me to draw near to God: I have put my trust in the Lord GOD, that I may declare all thy works.“Draw near” comes from the same קרב (Q-R-B) root as Abimelech’s “come near.” In the psalm, nearness to God is called good; here, distance from her marks the boundary he says he has not crossed.
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