What Does Judges 18:21 Mean in the King James?
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
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 word translated “turned” shares its root with “before them,” joining their change of direction to the things they place in front of them.
THE MEANING
The group turns and moves away with the children, livestock, and belongings arranged ahead of them. The language of facing links their direction of travel with what they carry forward.
THE ROOT
וַיִּפְנוּ
vayifnu
GROWS FROM
פנה
To turn or face toward something.
The verse’s “turned” comes from the same root family as “before them,” which is built from the Hebrew word for face. English separates the change of direction from the arrangement in front; Hebrew connects both through facing.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face; presence.
פָּנִים
The face is the point of orientation: what stands before someone is what lies in front of their face.
lifnei: Before; in front of.
לִפְנֵי
This form appears in the verse as “before them,” echoing the root behind “turned.”
כְּבוּדָה
kevudah
GROWS FROM
כבד
To be heavy or weighty.
“Carriage” here means belongings or baggage, and its Hebrew form is linked to the root for weight. The verse presents the group’s possessions as the weight carried along with them.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy; weighty.
כָּבֵד
It makes the physical sense of baggage clear: these are the things that add weight to the journey.
kavod: Weight; honor or significance.
כָּבוֹד
The shared root connects carried belongings with the broader Hebrew image of weight and significance.
THE PATTERN
A turn gives movement its direction, orienting whatever lies before the traveler.
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.THE THREAD
And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.Genesis uses the same פנה root in “turned their faces,” linking turning with the face and its direction. In Judges, the turn carries the household and its belongings into the space before them.
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