What Does Judges 1:9 Mean in the King James?
And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.
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 fight begins with descent: Judah moves into occupied ground and across the whole spread of terrain.
THE MEANING
You see Judah going down to fight the Canaanites across mountain, southland, and lowland. Conflict fills the landscape; the descent carries Judah into it.
THE ROOT
יָרְדוּ
yāredû
GROWS FROM
ירד
to descend, go down
“went down” in this verse is yāredû. Judah goes down with יָרְדוּ, a form of יָרַד (yarad), before the verse even names the battle. The same root appears in יֹרֵד (yored), one who descends, and יְרִידָה (yeridah), a descent; downward movement is the opening action that carries Judah into occupied ground.
ALSO GROWS
yored: one who is descending
יֹרֵד
This participle keeps the root’s downward movement active, as in Judah’s descent into the scene.
yeridah: descent
יְרִידָה
This noun names the movement that the verse gives as Judah’s first action.
בַּשְּׁפֵלָה
bashshephelah
GROWS FROM
שפל
to be low; to lower or bring low
The word translated “valley” is בַּשְּׁפֵלָה, the Shephelah or lowland, from שפל (shafal), low. The same root describes what is low and what is brought low, so the verse’s terrain word carries a sense of lowering beneath its geographic meaning.
ALSO GROWS
shafal: low, lowly
שָׁפָל
It shares the root consonants and makes the lowland sense of the Shephelah audible.
hishpil: to lower, bring low
הִשְׁפִּיל
This verb shares the same root and extends the word’s sense from low terrain to the act of lowering.
THE PATTERN
A descent carries a person into terrain where the next encounter unfolds.
But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.THE THREAD
And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.Judges and Genesis use the same Hebrew root, ירד (yarad), for going down. In both verses, descent brings someone into different ground as the scene turns toward what awaits there.
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