What Does Judges 12:5 Mean in the King James?
And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
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
“Passages” and “go over” share the root עבר (ʿābar, cross or pass over): whoever controls the crossing controls the escape.
THE MEANING
A person seeking to cross meets a test of identity at a way held by someone else. Being among those who escaped does not put him beyond danger; his passage still depends on the people guarding it. The verse ends at “Nay,” holding the moment before the consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Escape does not automatically mean safety: reaching the crossing still leaves a person subject to those who control it.
THE ROOT
מַעְבְּרוֹת
maʿbĕrôt ʾeʿĕbōrāh
GROWS FROM
ע־ב־ר
ʿābar
Cross, pass over, go through.
“passages; go over” in this verse is maʿbĕrôt ʾeʿĕbōrāh. English separates the crossing place (“passages”) from the act (“go over”), but both grow from the same root. The men who seize the passages seize the escapees’ ability to cross.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāvar: Cross, pass over.
עָבַר
This is the verb in the request “Let me go over,” linking the crossing place to the act it permits or denies.
maʿavār: A crossing place or ford.
מַעֲבָר
This singular form names the kind of place the Gileadites seize: a route becomes a controlled threshold.
פְּלִיטֵי
pelîṭê
GROWS FROM
פ־ל־ט
pālaṭ
Slip away, escape.
“escaped” in this verse is pelîṭê. The root names both escape and the person who gets away. These are survivors, but the word does not mean they are safe: they are still fugitives at a guarded crossing.
ALSO GROWS
pālîṭ: A survivor or escapee.
פָּלִיט
The people called “escaped” are also identified by their exposed status as fugitives.
pəlēṭāh: Escape or a remnant that has escaped.
פְּלֵיטָה
The related noun holds escape as an unfinished condition: survival brings them to the crossing, not beyond its danger.
יַרְדֵּן
Yardēn
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ד
yārad
Descend, go down.
Jordan’s name carries the sense of descent, from a root meaning “go down.” The escapees are stopped at a river crossing whose name itself evokes downward movement, while others control whether they may pass.
ALSO GROWS
yārad: Descend, go down.
יָרַד
This verb is the root behind Jordan’s name and gives the river a nature of downward flow.
hōrîd: Bring down, cause to descend.
הוֹרִיד
This related form shows descent as something that can be imposed; here, movement across the river is under another group’s control.
THE PATTERN
A threshold concentrates power: whoever holds or opens the way determines who can pass.
And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.THE THREAD
Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand.The next verse repeats מַעְבְּרוֹת (maʿbĕrôt, crossings) for the place where the men are tested and killed. The shared root ע־ב־ר (ʿābar, cross or pass over) ties control of the crossing to the deadly test of speech; “Nay” is only the pause before that test.
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