What Does Judges 11:20 Mean in the King James?

But Sihon trusted not Israel to pass through his coast: but Sihon gathered all his people together, and pitched in Jahaz, and fought against Israel.

Judges 11:20 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Mistrust is not passive here: it gathers a people and turns passage into combat.

THE MEANING

Mistrust treats another’s passage as danger, gathers a people, and prepares for combat. The boundary becomes a battlefield before anyone crosses it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that mistrust stays private and harmless; here it gathers a people and becomes violence.

THE ROOT

הֶאֱמִין

he'emin

GROWS FROM

אמן

ʾ-m-n

Be firm, steady, reliable; support or confirm.

The verb ⁨הֶאֱמִין⁩ (he’emin, trusted) grows from ⁨אמן⁩ (ʾ-m-n), a root of firmness and steadiness. English can make trust sound like a private opinion, while this root points to a stance of support: when that steadiness is withheld, the passage is met with force.

ALSO GROWS

emunah: Trust, leaning one’s full weight on another; steadfastness.

אֱמוּנָה

This branch shows trust as a relationship of reliance, not merely a judgment about someone’s intentions.

amen: Firm, true; so be it.

אָמֵן

Amen carries the same root’s sense of firmness, making Sihon’s refusal a withdrawal of steadiness rather than a neutral absence of opinion.

THE PATTERN

When passage is read as a threat, mistrust organizes itself into resistance.

And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

Numbers 20:18 · KJVEdom meets a request to pass through with a boundary and the threat of violence.

And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.

Luke 9:53 · KJVA village refuses to receive Jesus because of the direction his journey takes.

Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

John 11:53 · KJVPerceived threat gathers people into a shared plan of violence.

THE THREAD

And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Genesis 15:6 · KJV

The word translated “believed” in Genesis and “trusted” here comes from the same root, ⁨אמן⁩ (ʾ-m-n), meaning firmness and steadiness. Genesis shows that trust as reliance; Judges shows how withholding that steadiness shapes a scene toward conflict.

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