What Does Judges 2:20 Mean in the King James?
And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice;
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
“Transgressed” means they crossed over: the verse shows covenant rupture as a step beyond the bond paired with a refusal to hear its voice.
THE MEANING
The verse holds the LORD’s hot anger beside two linked acts: crossing the covenant and not hearing his voice. It makes rupture visible as both movement beyond a bond and the loss of response to its voice. That pairing still names what happens when belonging and listening separate.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A covenant can be broken without relational consequence.
THE ROOT
עָבְרוּ
ʿāveru
GROWS FROM
עבר
To cross over or pass beyond.
English “transgressed” can sound like a legal category; עָבְרוּ (ʿāveru, “they crossed over”) keeps the movement visible. The verse pairs that crossing with not hearing the voice, showing rupture as both departure from the bond and a break in response.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaverah: Transgression; a crossing over.
עֲבֵרָה
The same root makes the connection between crossing a boundary and transgressing plain.
maʿavar: A passage or crossing.
מַעֲבָר
This branch keeps the root’s sense of movement across or beyond visible.
ʿover: One passing by or crossing.
עוֹבֵר
The participle shows the root as an ongoing act of passing across.
שָׁמְעוּ
shamʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
To hear or listen; in this covenant setting, to hear with response.
“hearkened” in this verse is shamʿu. The verse sets not hearing beside crossing the covenant: the break is not only a change of direction but also a lost response to the voice. The root can name hearing itself, while this setting makes the relational weight of listening clear.
ALSO GROWS
shemiʿah: Hearing or listening.
שְׁמִיעָה
It keeps the basic act of receiving a voice visible beneath “hearkened.”
shemuʿah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch shows the root extending from hearing to what reaches someone through hearing.
THE PATTERN
A covenant voice is heard through response; when response disappears, the bond is crossed.
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.Both verses use עָבְרוּ (ʿāveru, “they crossed over”) for transgressing the covenant. Joshua makes the crossing concrete in what follows, while Judges pairs it with the people not hearing the voice.
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