What Does Judges 19:18 Mean in the King James?

And he said unto him, We are passing from Beth-lehem-judah toward the side of mount Ephraim; from thence am I: and I went to Beth-lehem-judah, but I am now going to the house of the LORD; and there is no man that receiveth me to house.

Judges 19:18 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here, receiving someone means gathering them beneath a roof, and no one gathers him in.

THE MEANING

A sacred destination does not guarantee that you are received along the way. The traveler still needs someone to gather him under a roof, and no one does. The verse leaves that exposure in view without softening it.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

Going toward the house of the LORD does not guarantee a human welcome.

THE ROOT

מְאַסֵּף

me'assef

GROWS FROM

אסף

To gather, collect, or bring together.

The Hebrew word rendered “receiveth” comes from a root meaning “gather.” It pictures welcome as drawing a traveler into shelter; the painful absence here is that nobody gathers him in.

ALSO GROWS

asif: Ingathering; gathering in the harvest.

אָסִיף

The same root names the act of collecting what is scattered into one place, sharpening the verse’s image of someone left outside.

ne'esaf: Be gathered or collected.

נֶאֱסַף

This form makes clear that gathering can describe what happens to a person, too; here, the traveler waits for someone to take him in.

THE PATTERN

The presence or absence of shelter is revealed in whether the stranger is gathered inside.

Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree:

Genesis 18:4 · KJVAbraham offers travelers water and a place to rest, making welcome a concrete act of shelter.

The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

Job 31:32 · KJVThe open door marks the difference between leaving a stranger exposed and receiving them under shelter.

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Hebrews 13:2 · KJVThe verse links receiving strangers with an encounter whose significance the host may not see.

THE THREAD

And they turned aside thither, to go in and to lodge in Gibeah: and when he went in, he sat him down in a street of the city: for there was no man that took them into his house to lodging.

Judges 19:15 · KJV

This verse repeats the same Hebrew root, ⁨אסף⁩ (asaph, “gather”), for taking travelers into a house. The repeated absence makes the closed door a failure of gathering people into shelter.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us