What Does Judges 1:12 Mean in the King James?
And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
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 verse binds a city’s capture to a daughter’s marriage, making her the promised reward of conquest.
THE MEANING
Caleb makes a man’s military success the condition for Achsah’s marriage. He names her as the one he will give, while this sentence gives her no voice in the bargain.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes a romantic reading of the offer: Caleb makes the promise, and Achsah’s consent is not voiced in this verse.
THE ROOT
וְנָתַתִּי
wenatatti
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
To give, set, or place.
“give” in this verse is wenatatti. This root holds giving together with setting or placing, so Caleb’s promise carries the sense of assigning as well as presenting. The same root returns in Judges 1:15 when Achsah asks for springs and Caleb gives them, placing her marriage and her inheritance inside one repeated verb.
ALSO GROWS
mattanah: Gift, present.
מַתָּנָה
This noun names what is given and makes the root’s transfer sense visible in Caleb’s promise.
natun: Given, set in place.
נָתוּן
This form shows the same root can describe what has been placed or assigned, echoing the way Caleb speaks of Achsah in this sentence.
קִרְיַת־סֵפֶר
Qiryat-Sepher
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
To count, record, or recount; sepher means book or written record.
“Kirjath-sepher” in this verse is Qiryat-Sepher. The place-name contains sepher, book or written record, and the root also yields words for a scribe and a count. That record-keeping layer sits beside the plain bargain named in the verse, while the English transliteration leaves it unopened.
ALSO GROWS
sepher: Book, document, written record.
סֵפֶר
This is the second element in the city’s name, preserving a book or record sense inside the Hebrew place-name.
sofer: Scribe, recorder.
סֹפֵר
The same consonants name the one who keeps records, giving the city’s name a branch connected to writing.
mispar: Number, count.
מִסְפָּר
This branch makes the root’s counting sense explicit alongside the verse’s stated terms: strike the city, capture it, then receive the promised marriage.
THE PATTERN
These passages bind marriage to a man’s bargain, exchanging service or victory for a promised union.
And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.And Jacob loved Rachel; and said, I will serve thee seven years for Rachel thy younger daughter.And Saul said to David, Behold my elder daughter Merab, her will I give thee to wife: only be thou valiant for me, and fight the LORD’s battles. For Saul said, Let not mine hand be upon him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.THE THREAD
And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs.The same root, נָתַן (natan, give, set, place), runs through Achsah’s words and Caleb’s response in this next verse. The scene records Achsah asking directly for springs and Caleb giving them, adding her voice to the exchange this verse introduces.
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