What Does Judges 11:35 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.
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 places the word “trouble” beside the father’s own vow, so the accusation points outward while the cause of his no-return is spoken by his own mouth.
THE MEANING
When grief arrives, blame can land on the person before you while your own words stand beside it as the force closing off return. The verse holds both in one moment: “thou art one of them that trouble me,” and “I have opened my mouth unto the LORD, and I cannot go back.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the certainty that the person before you is the source of the trouble: the speaker identifies his own vow as what closes his way back.
THE ROOT
בְּעֹכְרָי
bəʿokhrāy
GROWS FROM
עכר
ʿ-k-r
To trouble, disturb, or bring calamity.
“trouble me” in this verse is bəʿokhrāy. The same root appears in the accusation “Art thou he that troubleth Israel?”, which Elijah turns back on Ahab (1 Kings 18:17–18). Here, that word for trouble sits beside the father’s own vow, making his accusation share the scene with the words he says he cannot take back.
ALSO GROWS
ʿokhēr: One who brings trouble or calamity.
עֹכֵר
Ahab applies this root to Elijah, and Elijah answers that Ahab and his house are the ones troubling Israel; the accusation itself can point back to its speaker.
ʿākartānû: You have brought trouble upon us.
עָכַרְתָּנוּ
The root names trouble as something a person’s actions bring upon others, echoing the vow named in this verse beside the blame.
פָּצִיתִי פִּי
pāṣîtî pî
GROWS FROM
פצה
p-ts-h
To open wide, especially the mouth or lips.
“opened my mouth” in this verse is pāṣîtî pî. This is more than a general word for speaking: the root pictures a mouth opening wide. Psalm 66:14 uses the same verb for lips that “uttered” words in distress, giving the vow here the force of speech that has left the mouth and cannot simply be closed again.
ALSO GROWS
pāṣû śəfātay: My lips opened wide; my lips uttered.
פָּצוּ שְׂפָתַי
The same root describes lips speaking in distress, in a passage whose preceding verse names vows.
pāṣətāh hāʾădāmāh: The ground opened wide its mouth.
פָּצְתָה הָאֲדָמָה
The root can picture an opening that exposes what lies within; here the opened mouth releases words with lasting consequence.
לָשׁוּב
lāshûv
GROWS FROM
שוב
sh-w-b
To turn back or return; in some forms, to restore.
“go back” in this verse is lāshûv. This return-word can also describe restoration: Psalm 23:3 uses it for the shepherd who “restoreth” the soul. Here, the speaker says that return is closed to him, making the cost of the vow a blocked way back.
ALSO GROWS
shûvû: Turn back or return.
שׁוּבוּ
The same root can name a turning around; this verse places that possibility beside the speaker’s claim that he cannot turn back.
yĕshōvēv: Turns back, restores.
יְשׁוֹבֵב
The return-root can carry restoration as well as retreat, sharpening what is lost when the speaker says he cannot return.
THE PATTERN
Words spoken as vows do not remain sounds; they bind the speaker and carry consequences beyond the moment.
If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!THE THREAD
Which my lips have uttered, and my mouth hath spoken, when I was in trouble.Psalm 66:14 uses the same root פצה for lips that “uttered” words in distress; the preceding verse names those words as vows. That shared mouth-opening connects distress, vow, and consequence in both passages.
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