What Does Judges 17:2 Mean in the King James?
And he said unto his mother, The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it. And his mother said, Blessed be thou of the LORD, my son.
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 same Hebrew root names the silver as “taken” and Micah as the one who “took it,” turning an unnamed loss into an admission just before his mother speaks blessing.
THE MEANING
The verse holds Micah’s spoken admission beside his mother’s immediate blessing: he names himself as the one who took the silver, and she blesses him as her son. The blessing stands alongside the taking; it does not erase it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that a spoken curse must have the last word: after Micah names his act, his mother answers with blessing.
THE ROOT
לְקַחְתִּיו
ləqaḥtîw
GROWS FROM
לקח
laqach
To take, receive, or seize.
The Hebrew repeats the same root first in “that were taken” and then in “I took it.” The shift from passive description to Micah naming himself as the taker makes the admission unmistakable.
ALSO GROWS
luqqaḥ: Was taken.
לֻקַּח
This passive form describes the silver before Micah identifies who took it.
ləqaḥtîw: I took it.
לְקַחְתִּיו
This active form names Micah as the one behind the taking.
בָּרוּךְ
bārūkh
GROWS FROM
ברך
barakh
To bless; the root also carries the bodily image of bending the knee.
“Blessed” in this verse is bārūkh. The blessing is spoken over Micah as her son, immediately after his admission. The root’s connection to the knee adds a bodily dimension to her words, while the verse leaves the taking itself in view.
ALSO GROWS
bārakh: To bless.
בָּרַךְ
This verb is the root of the mother’s words to her son.
bərākhāh: Blessing.
בְּרָכָה
This noun names the kind of utterance that follows the earlier curse.
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
This related form preserves the root’s bodily image of bending.
אָלִית
ʾālît
GROWS FROM
אלה
ʾālāh
To swear or invoke a curse; an oath with a curse attached.
“cursedst” in this verse is ʾālît. The mother’s curse is an utterance Micah has heard, so speech shapes the scene even before he admits taking the silver. Her later blessing follows in the same exchange, placing curse and blessing side by side.
ALSO GROWS
ʾālît: You uttered a curse or oath-imprecation.
אָלִית
This is the form describing what Micah’s mother spoke within his hearing.
ʾālāh: An oath-imprecation or curse.
אָלָה
The noun form shows the weight carried by the spoken curse in the verse.
THE PATTERN
A spoken admission brings a concealed wrong into the open, where the response can name mercy, release, or restitution.
I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.And Zacchæus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.THE THREAD
And he said, Thy brother came with subtilty, and hath taken away thy blessing.The Hebrew uses the same root לקח (laqach, take): Judges moves from “was taken” to “I took it,” while Isaac says Jacob “took away” Esau’s blessing. That echo places an admitted taking beside a household story where taking and blessing are entangled, though their outcomes differ.
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