What Does Judges 10:6 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the LORD, and served not him.
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 many god-names are not the center: one repeated Hebrew verb makes this a transfer of service, with the final phrase naming whom it no longer reaches.
THE MEANING
This verse shows how allegiance can be redistributed among many powers, while service makes that shift concrete. The long list gives the displacement names; the repeated service names the change in what receives a person’s work and loyalty.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief that adding other sources of power leaves the first allegiance untouched dissolves here: the verse presents the added service as forsaking the LORD and refusing to serve him.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעַבְדוּ
wayyaʿavdu
GROWS FROM
עבד
to work or serve
“served” in this verse is wayyaʿavdu. The same root עבד (ʿ-b-d, work/serve) governs both directions in the verse: service to the named powers and refusal of service to the LORD. Its range includes work and servitude, so the shift is an allegiance made active, not merely a change of names.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant, worker
עֶבֶד
The servant is defined by the work or service rendered, making the verse’s allegiance relational and concrete.
ʿavodah: work, service
עֲבֹדָה
This branch makes service tangible as labor: the verse names where that labor and allegiance are directed.
בְּעָלִים
beʿalim
GROWS FROM
בעל
to be master or owner; בַּעַל (baʿal) means lord, master, owner, or husband
Baalim is the plural of Baal, a word that means lords or masters. Set beside עבד (ʿ-b-d, work/serve), the wording links masters and service: these named powers are presented as claimants to the work of allegiance.
ALSO GROWS
baʿal: lord, master, owner; also husband
בַּעַל
Baalim is this word in the plural, so the verse’s list names the rival masters receiving service.
bāʿal: to possess, rule as master, or marry
בָּעַל
The verbal branch carries the sense of mastery or belonging, sharpening the link between the named powers and the service directed to them.
THE PATTERN
Repeated service reveals which power has become the practical master of a life.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Joshua repeats the same Hebrew root עבד (ʿ-b-d, work/serve) for service to rival gods and service to the LORD. The shared root makes the direction of service the hinge: the verse turns on whom that service reaches.
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