What Does Judges 19:25 Mean in the King James?
But the men would not hearken to him: so the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the day began to spring, they let her go.
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 verse uses “know” for sex, then names the all-night assault plainly, stripping the word of any gentle reading.
THE MEANING
This verse shows a woman brought out to attackers, sexually violated through the night, and sent away at dawn. The men control each step: one brings her out, and the others hold, abuse, and release her. Dawn marks when they stop, not that she is restored.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the lie that an assailant’s release of a victim means rescue: they send her away only after choosing to brutalize her through the night.
THE ROOT
וַיֵּדְעוּ אֹתָהּ
wayyēdəʿû ʾōtāh
GROWS FROM
ידע
y-d-ʿ
To know, recognize, perceive
“knew her” in this verse is wayyēdəʿû ʾōtāh. The Hebrew verb yada, “know” or “recognize,” is used here for sex. With her seized and abused throughout the night, the word names the attackers’ forced bodily access; it does not make the encounter mutual.
ALSO GROWS
daʿat: Knowledge, understanding, perception
דַּעַת
This branch names knowing as knowledge or understanding; here, the explicit violence keeps the sexual use from being mistaken for consent.
môdaʿ: Acquaintance, kinsman
מוֹדָע
This branch names someone known or connected, showing that the root of knowing describes a relation but does not guarantee care or consent.
וַיְשַׁלְּחוּהָ
wayšalleḥûhā
GROWS FROM
שלח
š-l-ḥ
To send out, dispatch, release
The Hebrew verb translated “let her go” is shalach, “send out” or “release,” with the men as its agents and her as the one they dispatch. The word describes their decision to end the assault and send her away; it does not say she is safe or restored.
ALSO GROWS
shilluach: Sending away, dismissal
שִׁלּוּחַ
This form of the send-root can describe sending a wife out of a household; here, the root keeps the men’s agency in view as they send her away.
mishloach: Sending, dispatch; something sent
מִשְׁלוֹחַ
This noun names the act of dispatch itself, showing how “let her go” can describe sending someone away without saying they are safe or free.
THE PATTERN
Scripture names sexual coercion through the acts imposed on a woman’s body, rather than making the encounter sound mutual.
And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.But if a man find a betrothed damsel in the field, and the man force her, and lie with her: then the man only that lay with her shall die:Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her.THE THREAD
Then he called his servant that ministered unto him, and said, Put now this woman out from me, and bolt the door after her.The Hebrew behind “Put ... out” is shalach, the same send-root translated “let her go” here. In both scenes, men decide when a woman is sent away after sexual violence; that departure does not erase what they have done.
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