What Does Judges 18:24 Mean in the King James?
And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and ye are gone away: and what have I more? and what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee?
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 gods he calls “mine” are exposed by one verb: he made them, and now he cannot keep them.
THE MEANING
You may call an object a god, but you made it; when it is taken, its dependence on you stands exposed, and you are left asking, “What have I more?” That question exposes a source of security that could never sustain itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that what you make and possess can become an unlosable source of protection.
THE ROOT
עָשִׂיתִי
ʿāsîtî
GROWS FROM
עשה
ʿasah
To do, make, or accomplish.
The root of “I made” also appears in the Hebrew word for a work or deed. The verse keeps the act of making audible beneath the claim “my gods”: what he calls divine is still his own doing, and its loss reveals that it never stood beyond its maker.
ALSO GROWS
maʿaseh: Work, deed, or thing made.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This is the same root in the phrase “the work of men’s hands” in Psalm 115:4, linking Micah’s made gods to the work human hands produce.
ʿoseh: One who does or makes; a maker.
עֹשֶׂה
The maker remains present in the word’s family, exposing the dependence hidden when a made object is treated as a god.
THE PATTERN
A work of human hands cannot become an independent source of life or security for the hands that made it.
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;THE THREAD
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.“Made” in Judges and “work” in Psalm 115 share the Hebrew root עשה (ʿasah), meaning to do or make. The shared root reveals what “my gods” contains: a human deed in divine form, unable to become an independent source of power.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us