What Does Judges 11:37 Mean in the King James?
And she said unto her father, Let this thing be done for me: let me alone two months, that I may go up and down upon the mountains, and bewail my virginity, I and my fellows.
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
“Let me alone” is a plea for release: she asks for her father’s hold to loosen so her grief can have space.
THE MEANING
She asks her father to release her for two months so she can go among the mountains and grieve her virginity with her companions. Her loss is named plainly, and her grief has a duration, a place, and witnesses.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Grief must be borne alone: she asks to mourn with her companions.
THE ROOT
הַרְפֵּה
harpeh
GROWS FROM
רפה
raphah
To slacken, loosen, or release.
The Hebrew verb behind “let me alone” asks her father to loosen his hold; the request is for release, not simply privacy. The same root appears in the command rendered “Be still” in Psalm 46:10, where stillness also carries the sense of letting go.
ALSO GROWS
harpu: Release; let go; cease.
הַרְפּוּ
Psalm 46:10 uses this form in the command rendered “Be still,” linking stillness with a loosening of the grasp.
rippāyôn: Slackness; weakness; a letting down.
רִפָּיוֹן
This related noun carries the sense of a grip slackening; in this verse, the release she asks for opens room for the mourning she names.
THE PATTERN
Grief takes visible form when it is given voice through tears and lament.
And he said, Go. And he sent her away for two months: and she went with her companions, and bewailed her virginity upon the mountains.And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.Jesus wept.THE THREAD
Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.Psalm 46:10 uses the same Hebrew root as Judges 11:37, though the KJV renders it “Be still” there and “let me alone” here. Both carry a movement of loosening: in the psalm it clears space for knowing, and here it gives her room to grieve.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us