What Does Judges 15:8 Mean in the King James?
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
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 Hebrew holds “he struck” and “a great blow” in one root family, making the slaughter the unfolding of the strike itself.
THE MEANING
You encounter the violence at full scale: the blow is bodily, leg upon thigh, and is named as a great slaughter; then the striker withdraws to dwell in a cleft. The retreat follows the violence without undoing it; both remain in the same line.
THE ROOT
וַיַּךְ
wayyak
GROWS FROM
נכה
n-k-h
to strike, smite
“smote / great slaughter” in this verse is wayyak. The verb וַיַּךְ (wayyak, “he struck”) is followed by מַכָּה (makkāh, “blow”), both from נכה (n-k-h, “strike”). The verse’s action and its great blow belong to one word family, keeping the violence bodily rather than abstracting it as victory.
ALSO GROWS
nākâ: to strike, smite
נָכָה
This verb names the force Samson uses in the verse.
makkāh: blow, wound, plague
מַכָּה
This noun names the blow’s result; the action and its devastating impact share the same root.
THE PATTERN
A blow is measured by what it sets in motion beyond its point of impact.
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad.THE THREAD
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.The verb וַיַּךְ (wayyak, “he struck”) returns from נכה (n-k-h, “strike”), the same root behind מַכָּה (makkāh, “blow”) in this verse. Here the blow is given a count, one thousand, so the earlier “great slaughter” opens into its scale.
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