What Does Judges 13:19 Mean in the King James?

So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on.

Judges 13:19 · 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

The Hebrew word for “wondrously” names an act beyond ordinary measure, and Manoah and his wife witness it directly.

THE MEANING

You see an offering set upon a rock before the LORD, and the messenger acting beyond ordinary measure. Manoah, whose name carries the sense of rest, and his wife look on as the wonder unfolds.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Wonder does not have to remain unseen or inaccessible; here, both Manoah and his wife witness it.

THE ROOT

מַפְלִא

maphli

GROWS FROM

פ־ל־א

p-l-ʾ

To be extraordinary, beyond ordinary measure; to do something wondrous.

“wondrously” in this verse is maphli. The Hebrew verb presents the messenger’s act as exceeding what is ordinary. The verse holds that beyond-ordinary act together with the couple’s direct sight of it: what surpasses understanding is still witnessed.

ALSO GROWS

pele: A wonder, an extraordinary act.

פֶּלֶא

It names the quality of the messenger’s action as something that exceeds the ordinary.

nifla’ot: Wonders, wondrous acts.

נִפְלָאוֹת

This related form shows the same root describing acts that stand beyond ordinary human reach.

מָנוֹחַ

Manoah

GROWS FROM

נ־ו־ח

n-w-ḥ

To rest, settle, or come to rest.

Manoah’s name carries the sense of rest or resting place. That name stands beside a scene of active wonder, with Manoah and his wife together as witnesses.

ALSO GROWS

nuach: To rest or settle.

נוּחַ

The root gives Manoah’s name its sense of rest.

menuchah: Rest, resting place.

מְנוּחָה

This related form makes the name’s connection to rest tangible.

THE PATTERN

Divine encounter makes an ordinary material place a visible site of wonder.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

Exodus 3:2 · KJVA messenger appears through fire in an ordinary living thing, and the encounter becomes visible to the one who looks.

Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight.

Judges 6:21 · KJVAn offering placed on rock becomes the scene of an act beyond ordinary human power.

And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

Luke 1:11 · KJVAt an altar, a messenger becomes visible within the act of offering.

THE THREAD

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Exodus 15:11 · KJV

“Doing wonders” uses the same ⁨פלא⁩ root as “did wondrously” in Judges 13:19. The shared root connects this witnessed act with the wider language of the LORD’s wondrous works.

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