What Does Judges 18:23 Mean in the King James?
And they cried unto the children of Dan. And they turned their faces, and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company?
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 reply makes Micah’s gathered response, rather than its cause, the thing that must be explained.
THE MEANING
When a cry summons people, its cause can recede behind the sight of the crowd. Here, the face-to-face reply focuses on the company around Micah and leaves his reason outside the question.
THE ROOT
נִזְעָקְתָּ
nizʿaqta
GROWS FROM
זעק
Cry out, call for help, or summon; in this form, be called out or gathered.
“comest with such a company” in this verse is nizʿaqta. The Hebrew verb comes from זעק, the root of crying out and summoning. The cry and the gathered company belong to one movement: distress becomes a public summons, even as the reply turns attention toward the crowd.
ALSO GROWS
zaʿaq: Cry out; call for help.
זָעַק
This verb names the outcry that brings distress into public hearing, echoing the cry behind Micah’s assembled response.
zeʿaqah: Cry; outcry.
זְעָקָה
This noun makes the cry itself visible as a public appeal, not merely a private feeling.
וַיַּסִּבּוּ
wayyassibbu
GROWS FROM
סבב
Turn about, go around, or surround.
“turned” in this verse is wayyassibbu. The verb carries the sense of turning about, a full pivot toward Micah rather than a passing glance. Their faces turn to meet him, and their first words make the size of his company the subject.
ALSO GROWS
sabab: Turn about; go around; surround.
סָבַב
This verb shares the root’s turning motion and gives weight to the Danites’ deliberate pivot toward Micah.
saviv: Around; all around.
סָבִיב
This related form carries the sense of what surrounds; here, the assembled people around Micah become the focus of the question.
THE PATTERN
When distress becomes a cry, the response reveals whether attention meets its cause or only the gathering it creates.
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.THE THREAD
And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.The word behind “comest with such a company” comes from זעק, the same root rendered “cried” here. Across both verses, the root holds distress and summons together: a cry gathers an answer, and the response shows whether its cause is heard.
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