What Does Judges 13:9 Mean in the King James?
And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah; and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field: but Manoah her husband was not with her.
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
Being heard does not make Manoah the mediator: the messenger returns directly to the woman.
THE MEANING
God hears Manoah’s voice, and the messenger comes again to the woman where she sits in the field. Manoah’s absence is explicit, yet the encounter reaches her directly. His presence is not a condition for her receiving the returning messenger.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that a woman’s encounter with God must be mediated by a man: Manoah is absent, and the messenger meets her directly.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁמַע
vayishma
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, pay attention; in responsive contexts, hear and respond.
“hearkened” in this verse is vayishma. The Hebrew root can carry attentive hearing, and its broader word family includes hearing that calls for a response. Here, hearing is followed by the messenger’s return, but the messenger goes to the woman.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This branch shows how hearing can include a response, not only the reception of sound.
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
It preserves the root’s connection between hearing and the message that is received.
יֹשֶׁבֶת
yoshevet
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
Sit, dwell, remain.
“sat” in this verse is yoshevet. This word family reaches from sitting to dwelling and remaining. The woman’s place in the field is part of the scene: the messenger meets her where she is seated.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: Sit, dwell, remain.
יָשַׁב
It carries both the bodily posture described here and the sense of staying in a place.
moshav: A seat, dwelling, or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch shows how the same root can describe a place of dwelling as well as the act of sitting.
מָנוֹחַ
Mānoaḥ
GROWS FROM
נוח
n-w-ḥ
Rest, settle, come to rest.
Manoah’s name is connected with rest and settling. The verse names him as absent while the woman is sitting in place when the messenger returns.
ALSO GROWS
naḥ: Rested, came to rest.
נָח
This form gives the basic sense carried by Manoah’s name.
menuchah: Rest or a resting place.
מְנוּחָה
It extends the root from resting to the place where rest is found.
THE PATTERN
The messenger’s address reaches the woman directly, without requiring a man to stand between her and the encounter.
And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way to Shur.And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.THE THREAD
And the angel of the LORD said unto her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the LORD hath heard thy affliction.Judges’ “hearkened” and Genesis’ “hath heard” draw on שָׁמַע (shama, hear, listen, and in responsive contexts hear and respond). Hagar, like the woman in Judges, receives the messenger’s words directly; the shared root links God’s hearing with a woman’s direct encounter.
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