What Does Judges 14:10 Mean in the King James?

So his father went down unto the woman: and Samson made there a feast; for so used the young men to do.

Judges 14:10 · 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.

THE KEY

The “feast” is a drinking feast at its root, so the verse names this marriage gathering by the act at its center.

THE MEANING

A bond takes shape among the people who gather around it. The father’s visit and the feast give the union a shared, customary form.

THE ROOT

מִשְׁתֶּה

mishteh

GROWS FROM

שתה

to drink

⁨מִשְׁתֶּה⁩ (mishteh, a drinking feast) grows from ⁨שָׁתָה⁩ (shatah, to drink). English names the broad event; Hebrew also keeps the drinking at its center, showing the gathering as a shared practice.

ALSO GROWS

shatah: to drink

שָׁתָה

The verb names the act carried within the feast’s name.

mishteh: a drinking feast or banquet

מִשְׁתֶּה

This is the verse’s word for the gathering that marks the marriage.

יַעֲשׂוּ

ya'asu

GROWS FROM

עשׂה

to do, make

“to do” in this verse is ya'asu. The Hebrew says, “for thus the young men do,” making the custom visible as repeated action. The practice lives in what people enact together, rather than in an abstract rule.

ALSO GROWS

asah: to do, make

עָשָׂה

The young men’s customary practice is expressed through this root’s basic action.

ma'aseh: deed, work

מַעֲשֶׂה

This related noun shows the same root taking shape as an action or deed.

THE PATTERN

A marriage becomes socially visible through a feast that gathers others around the union.

And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

Genesis 29:22 · KJVA marriage feast gathers the people of the place around the union.

And the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there: And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.

John 2:1-2 · KJVThe marriage becomes a shared gathering, with others called to join it.

The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,

Matthew 22:2 · KJVA marriage is given public form through a feast made for the son.

THE THREAD

And Laban gathered together all the men of the place, and made a feast.

Genesis 29:22 · KJV

Genesis uses the same Hebrew noun, ⁨מִשְׁתֶּה⁩ (mishteh, a drinking feast), for a wedding gathering. The shared word shows marriage moving into a feast where others assemble around it.

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