What Does Judges 19:8 Mean in the King James?

And he arose early in the morning on the fifth day to depart: and the damsel’s father said, Comfort thine heart, I pray thee. And they tarried until afternoon, and they did eat both of them.

Judges 19:8 · 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

What the KJV calls “comfort” is an appeal to sustain the heart, and the meal that follows makes that support tangible.

THE MEANING

A departure can feel settled, yet another person’s appeal can prolong it. Here, the appeal is to support the heart, and the shared meal makes that support tangible while the leaving waits.

THE ROOT

סְעָד

seʿad

GROWS FROM

סעד

To support or sustain.

“Comfort” in this verse is seʿad. The appeal is not only to soothe an emotion: the Hebrew verb ⁨סעד⁩ (sāʿad, “support, sustain”) carries the sense of holding someone up. The meal that follows gives that support a bodily form as the departure is delayed.

ALSO GROWS

sāʿad: To support, sustain.

סָעַד

This verb names the action the father asks for: the heart is something that can be upheld.

seʿudah: A meal or feast.

סְעוּדָה

This related word for a meal echoes the root’s sense of sustenance, linking support with the food shared before departure.

THE PATTERN

Provision sustains the heart while a journey or departure waits.

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.

Genesis 18:5 · KJVBread and the same appeal to sustain the heart come before the travelers continue on their way.

And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee.

1 Kings 19:7 · KJVFood is given as support for a journey that cannot yet be completed.

Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.

Acts 27:36 · KJVIn the midst of a dangerous passage, eating restores the group’s courage and strength.

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.

Genesis 18:5 · KJV

The verb ⁨סעד⁩ (sāʿad, “support, sustain”) appears in the appeal to “comfort” the heart in both verses. Genesis makes the link to food explicit: bread sustains the travelers before they continue, just as a shared meal follows the appeal here.

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