What Does Genesis 34:20 Mean in the King James?
And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,
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 verb translated “communed” comes from דָּבַר (dābar, “to speak”), whose branch דָּבָר (davar, “word” and “matter”) makes their speech itself a public matter.
THE MEANING
A matter changes scale when it is spoken before a community: what two people hold now stands among the city’s men. The gate is the threshold where words enter shared life, and the community is asked to hear them.
THE ROOT
וַיְדַבְּרוּ
waydabbĕrû
GROWS FROM
דבר
Speak, utter, converse.
“communed” in this verse is waydabbĕrû. The verb וַיְדַבְּרוּ (waydabbĕrû, “they spoke”) belongs to דָּבַר (dābar, “to speak”). Its noun branch דָּבָר (davar, “word; matter”) joins language to the matter under discussion, so these words enter public life as something the city must hear.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, speech, matter, thing.
דָּבָר
This noun grows from the same root and can refer both to words and to the matter being discussed, binding speech to its subject.
medabber: Speaking; one who speaks.
מְדַבֵּר
This form keeps the root active: speech is an act directed to hearers, as Hamor and Shechem address the city’s men.
THE PATTERN
When a matter is spoken before a community, it enters the community’s shared judgment.
And Hamor and Shechem his son came unto the gate of their city, and communed with the men of their city, saying,Then went Boaz up to the gate, and sat him down there: and, behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz spake came by; unto whom he said, Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down here. And he turned aside, and sat down.Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.THE THREAD
But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.Genesis uses וַיְדַבְּרוּ (waydabbĕrû, “they spoke”), from דָּבַר (dābar, “speak”); Deuteronomy uses הַדָּבָר (haddābār, “the word, the matter”), from the same root. The shared family links speech at the city gate with words held in the mouth and heart, then carried into doing.
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