What Does Judges 19:5 Mean in the King James?
And it came to pass on the fourth day, when they arose early in the morning, that he rose up to depart: and the damsel’s father said unto his son in law, Comfort thine heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward go your way.
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 father’s offer echoes Abraham’s welcome: the same Hebrew verb makes bread support the heart before the journey resumes.
THE MEANING
You are met at the threshold between rest and departure: a morsel of bread is named as support for the heart. Here care can nourish and delay at once; as the story unfolds, the repeated postponements lead into the concubine’s rape and death.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A warm offer of care guarantees a safe outcome.
THE ROOT
סְעָד
se'ad
GROWS FROM
סעד
To support, prop up, or sustain.
The verb translated “comfort” describes giving the heart something to lean on. The same root appears when Scripture says bread strengthens the heart, joining the inner steadiness of the heart to the body’s nourishment.
ALSO GROWS
sa'ad: To support or sustain.
סָעַד
This is the root verb behind the father’s invitation: the bread is offered as something that props up the heart.
se'udah: A meal or feast.
סְעֻדָּה
This related word for a meal grows from the same support root, revealing food as what sustains.
THE PATTERN
Food can steady the heart and body for the road ahead.
And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.THE THREAD
And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said.Abraham uses the same Hebrew verb, סעד (sa’ad), for sustaining the visitors’ hearts with a morsel of bread before they continue. The near-identical wording reveals a shared language of hospitality: bread supports the heart, then the road resumes.
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