What Does Judges 2:7 Mean in the King James?
And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.
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 root behind “served” also names Israel’s forced labor under Pharaoh, so the hidden question inside the verse is whose authority governs a people’s service.
THE MEANING
You see the people serving the LORD through Joshua’s days and the days of the elders who outlive him; those elders have seen the LORD’s great works for Israel. The verse holds service alongside witnessed works, with the elders’ own days keeping that witness present among the people.
THE ROOT
עָבַד
avad
GROWS FROM
עבד
Work, serve, labor under an authority.
The same root describes serving a master and being made to labor, so “served” carries the texture of work under authority. Here its object is the LORD; Exodus 1:14 uses the root for Israel’s forced service in Egypt, revealing the contrast between Pharaoh’s grip and service to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
eved: Servant; also slave, depending on context.
עֶבֶד
The related noun makes the person serving visible inside the verb: service involves a relationship to a master.
avodah: Work, labor, service.
עֲבֹדָה
This branch names the work itself, including the forced labor described in Exodus 1:14.
רָאָה
ra’ah
GROWS FROM
ראה
See, look, perceive.
The elders are described as people who have seen the LORD’s works, not merely heard about them. The root also gives Hebrew words for the seer and for a vision or appearance, holding the one who perceives together with what is perceived.
ALSO GROWS
ro’eh: A seer; one who sees.
רֹאֶה
This branch names the perceiver, bringing the elders’ firsthand witness into focus.
mar’eh: Appearance, sight, vision.
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what is seen, echoing the LORD’s great works that the elders witnessed.
THE PATTERN
Witnessed works sustain shared devotion when their memory remains present in the community.
And Israel saw that great work which the LORD did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the LORD, and believed the LORD, and his servant Moses.We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.THE THREAD
And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.Exodus uses the same עבד (avad, work or serve) root for Israel’s forced labor under Pharaoh. The shared root makes the hinge concrete: the people’s service in Judges is under the LORD’s authority rather than Pharaoh’s.
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