What Does Judges 13:15 Mean in the King James?
And Manoah said unto the angel of the LORD, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee.
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 word translated “detain” makes hospitality an attempt to hold in place the very one whose nature is to be sent.
THE MEANING
You can want to keep an encounter present long enough to answer it with something tangible; Manoah asks the messenger to stay while a kid is prepared. The verse holds welcome and restraint in one gesture: a meal is offered to the one whose role is to be sent.
THE ROOT
נַעְצְרָה־נָּא
naʿatzrah-nāʾ
GROWS FROM
ע־צ־ר
ʿ-ṣ-r
To restrain, hold back, or detain.
“detain” in this verse is naʿatzrah-nāʾ. The root carries both the sense of holding something back and of keeping people gathered. Manoah asks the מַלְאָךְ (malʾāḵ, messenger) to stay while he prepares a meal, so the word for welcome holds a tension with the guest’s nature as one sent.
ALSO GROWS
maʿaṣar: Restraint or confinement.
מַעְצָר
This branch makes the force of “detain” concrete: the request is to keep the messenger from departing for a while.
ʿaṣeret: A solemn assembly or gathering.
עֲצֶרֶת
The same root can describe people held together in an assembly, joining the ideas of restraint and gathering.
THE PATTERN
Hospitality answers an arrival by trying to keep the visitor present and turning welcome into provision.
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us: for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them.Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread: and if thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the LORD. For Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the LORD.The reply repeats the same root, עָצַר (ʿāṣar, restrain or hold back): “Though thou detain me.” The repeated word keeps Manoah’s offer of hospitality in view as the messenger redirects the offering to the LORD.
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