What Does Judges 2:15 Mean in the King James?

Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them for evil, as the LORD had said, and as the LORD had sworn unto them: and they were greatly distressed.

Judges 2:15 · 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, distress is life pressed into a narrow shape as the LORD’s sworn word becomes the force met on every road.

THE MEANING

The verse shows you what it means when every direction meets opposition: the LORD’s hand is against them for harm, and the word spoken and sworn is lived as consequence. Their distress is a great narrowing, reaching the paths they take.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a spoken warning can remain only words: here it becomes the condition met wherever they go.

THE ROOT

וַיֵּצֶר

wayyēṣer

GROWS FROM

יָצַר

yatsar

To press in or be distressed; the related word family also carries the sense of forming or shaping.

“distressed” in this verse is wayyēṣer. The Hebrew says it became pressed in for them greatly. Its ⁨צ־ר⁩ consonants echo ⁨צַר⁩ (tsar, narrow), linking their distress with the Bible’s language of constricted space.

ALSO GROWS

yōṣēr: Former; potter

יֹצֵר

The related forming word family makes shaping audible beside the verb for being pressed in.

yēṣer: Formation; inclination or intent

יֵצֶר

This word names what is formed, extending the root’s sense of pressure and shape into the inner life.

נִשְׁבַּע

nishbaʿ

GROWS FROM

שָׁבַע

shavaʿ

To swear or bind oneself by an oath; the same root is associated with seven.

The verse says the LORD’s action follows what was spoken and sworn. The oath is bound into the word itself, giving the consequence the weight of a pledge.

ALSO GROWS

shevaʿ: Seven

שֶׁבַע

The shared root links swearing with seven, a number associated with completion and a binding measure.

shevuʿah: Oath

שְׁבוּעָה

This noun names the binding pledge that the verse says has become lived consequence.

THE PATTERN

A spoken warning becomes concrete consequence, meeting people along the paths they take.

But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:

Deuteronomy 28:15 · KJVThe warning describes its consequences as realities that come upon and overtake the path.

But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.

1 Samuel 5:6 · KJVThe LORD’s hand is an active force whose judgment reaches a whole community in bodily suffering.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

Galatians 6:7 · KJVThe harvest image makes the same structure explicit: what is set in motion returns as the condition one meets.

THE THREAD

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

Psalm 118:5 · KJV

Judges describes distress with ⁨וַיֵּצֶר⁩ (wayyēṣer, being pressed in); Psalm 118:5 uses ⁨מִן־הַמֵּצַר⁩ (min hametsar, from the narrow place), echoing the ⁨צ־ר⁩ consonants. The paired images make the spatial meaning clear: a narrowed place can open into a large one.

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