What Does Judges 11:10 Mean in the King James?
And the elders of Gilead said unto Jephthah, The LORD be witness between us, if we do not so according to thy words.
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 one called a witness is literally a hearer, so this agreement places its words before God and their fulfillment within his hearing.
THE MEANING
A promise stands in the open before the LORD, the hearer between those who make it. Its words take shape in the action that follows.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a promise is fulfilled just by saying it is undone here: its words remain bound to the action they name.
THE ROOT
שֹׁמֵעַ
shomēaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear or listen, often with the force of heeding and responding.
“witness” in this verse is shomēaʿ. The Hebrew pictures the LORD as a hearer between the parties. Hearing can carry the force of heeding, so the promise is spoken with its answer in view: whether the promised action follows.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond; listen with heed.
שְׁמַע
The familiar call to hear makes listening active, illuminating the hearer who stands between the parties.
shemōaʿ: Hearing or obeying.
שְׁמֹעַ
This form appears in Samuel’s words about obeying the LORD’s voice, linking hearing with the response that follows.
דְּבָרְךָ
devarəkha
GROWS FROM
דבר
To speak or declare; the related noun can mean a word or a matter.
The word for “words” belongs to a root whose noun can name both speech and the matter at hand. Here, the words set out the action that will make the agreement real.
ALSO GROWS
davar: Word, matter, or affair.
דָּבָר
The same noun can name what is said and the matter being agreed upon.
dibber: Spoke or declared.
דִּבֵּר
The related verb shows speech as an act; in this verse, what is declared is joined directly to what will be done.
THE PATTERN
A commitment becomes legible in whether action follows the spoken word.
When thou shalt vow a vow unto the LORD thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the LORD thy God will surely require it of thee; and it would be sin in thee.In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.THE THREAD
And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.The same שׁמע root links the LORD as “hearer” here with “obeying” the LORD’s voice in Samuel’s words. Hearing carries through to response, making the agreement’s force visible in what is done.
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