What Does Judges 13:6 Mean in the King James?

Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible: but I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name:

Judges 13:6 · 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

She recognizes the visitor’s resemblance to God’s messenger, while his withheld name leaves his nature undisclosed.

THE MEANING

You can encounter a presence whose appearance fills you with awe before its source or nature is clear. What you see offers a resemblance without full identification, so recognition and mystery stand together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

You cannot recognize a presence until you know its name.

THE ROOT

מַרְאֵהוּ

marʾēhū kəmarʾēh

GROWS FROM

ר־א־ה

r-ʾ-h

To see, look at, or perceive.

The KJV preserves the repeated “countenance,” while Hebrew makes both forms of ⁨מַרְאֶה⁩ (marʾeh, appearance) part of ⁨רָאָה⁩ (raʾah, to see or perceive). She recognizes a resemblance to God’s messenger, while the visitor’s ⁨שֵׁם⁩ (shem, name as nature) remains withheld.

ALSO GROWS

raʾah: To see, look at, or perceive.

רָאָה

The visitor is first known through what she sees.

marʾeh: Appearance, sight, or vision.

מַרְאֶה

This is the word repeated for the visitor’s countenance and the messenger’s countenance.

roʾeh: One who sees; a seer.

רֹאֶה

It shows the same root reaching from an appearance to the act and capacity of seeing.

נוֹרָא מְאֹד

nora meʾod

GROWS FROM

י־ר־א

y-r-ʾ

To fear or stand in awe.

“very terrible” in this verse is nora meʾod. ⁨נוֹרָא⁩ (nora, fearsome or awe-inspiring) comes from the same root as fear and awe. The description holds both wonder and dread: she is struck by the visitor’s appearance, yet does not know his origin or name.

ALSO GROWS

yare: To fear or revere.

יָרֵא

It gives the root’s range of fear and reverence behind the visitor’s formidable appearance.

yirʾah: Fear or awe.

יִרְאָה

It makes visible the awe carried by the description of a countenance like God’s messenger.

nora: Fearsome or awe-inspiring.

נוֹרָא

This is the word used for the visitor’s appearance in the verse.

THE PATTERN

An encounter can disclose a presence before it discloses the identity behind it.

And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there.

Genesis 32:29 · KJVJacob receives a blessing in an encounter whose visitor does not disclose his name.

And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

John 20:14 · KJVMary sees the person before her but does not yet recognize his identity.

But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

Luke 24:16 · KJVThe travelers encounter Jesus while his identity remains hidden from them.

THE THREAD

And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?

Judges 13:18 · KJV

Both verses use ⁨שֵׁם⁩ (shem, name as nature): Manoah later asks for the name his wife says the visitor did not tell her. The messenger calls it ⁨פֶּלִאי⁩ (peli, wondrous or beyond ordinary comprehension), deepening the mystery around the nature she could recognize only by appearance.

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