What Does Judges 2:13 Mean in the King James?
And they forsook the LORD, and served Baal and Ashtaroth.
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
Leaving the LORD is immediately paired with giving your labor to another master.
THE MEANING
The verse names a living exchange: turning away from the LORD is joined to serving other powers, so departure becomes a new allegiance. Baal’s name carries the sense of “master,” making that shift visible in the name itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that leaving the LORD means becoming free of allegiance: service transfers to another master.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעַבְדוּ
vayyaʿavdu
GROWS FROM
עבד
Work, labor, serve.
The Hebrew verb for “served” also carries the sense of working or laboring. It shows that the shift is more than a change of ritual: the people’s effort and allegiance now serve other powers.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: Servant, worker.
עֶבֶד
The same root names the person who gives their work in service.
ʿavodah: Work, labor, service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch makes clear that service involves the work of a life, not only a spoken devotion.
וַיַּעַזְבוּ
vayyaʿazvu
GROWS FROM
עזב
Leave, abandon, forsake.
The verse sets “forsook” beside “served”: departure from one allegiance coincides with service to another. The two Hebrew verbs share an ע…ב consonant frame, echoing the exchange in sound while remaining distinct roots.
ALSO GROWS
ʿozev: One who leaves or forsakes.
עֹזֵב
This form makes the act of departure an ongoing posture.
ʿazuv: Forsaken, abandoned.
עָזוּב
The branch shows the state left behind when something or someone is abandoned.
בַּעַל
baʿal
GROWS FROM
בעל
Master, owner; to possess or rule as master.
Baal’s name itself carries the sense of a master or owner. Beside the verb “served,” the name exposes the shape of the exchange: service is directed toward a new master.
ALSO GROWS
baʿal: Master, owner; also husband.
בַּעַל
The name Baal carries this sense of mastery into the verse’s description of whom the people serve.
baʿal: To be master of, possess.
בָּעַל
This verbal branch shows the claim of ownership contained in the name.
THE PATTERN
When allegiance turns from one lord, the effort of life takes up service to another.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?THE THREAD
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.Joshua uses the same Hebrew root עבד (ʿ-b-d, “work” or “serve”), making service the choice Judges compresses into one line. Joshua names the fork openly; Judges shows the people serving the powers they have turned toward.
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