What Does Judges 20:22 Mean in the King James?
And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day.
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
Here, courage is not a victory report; it is the people taking hold of themselves and returning to the same battle line.
THE MEANING
After a painful defeat, you can gather yourself and take your position again where the struggle first met you. The verse shows recovery before victory: strength appears as the ability to stand and arrange yourself for what comes next.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that defeat leaves you with no strength to stand again.
THE ROOT
וַיִּתְחַזֵּק
vayyitḥazzēq
GROWS FROM
חזק
ḥazaq
To be strong, become firm, or strengthen; here, in a reflexive form, to strengthen oneself.
“encouraged themselves” in this verse is vayyitḥazzēq. English can make “encouraged” sound like a feeling, while the Hebrew verb pictures the people making themselves firm. This is strength gathered within before it appears as a renewed stance.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzaq: Be strong; prevail.
חָזַק
The root can name strength that holds through resistance, not only a passing lift in mood.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen; make firm.
חִזֵּק
This form makes the root’s strengthening action explicit: what is weak or shaken is made firm again.
עָרְכוּ
ʿārəḵû
GROWS FROM
ערך
ʿarak
To arrange, set in order, or prepare.
“set their battle in array” in this verse is ʿārəḵû. The verse moves from inner strengthening to ordered formation. The people do not merely feel ready; they arrange themselves again in the place and pattern of the first engagement.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāraḵ: Arrange; set in order.
עָרַךְ
The verb names the deliberate act by which resolve takes shape as a position.
maʿărāḵāh: Battle array; formation.
מַעֲרָכָה
This related noun names the ordered formation the people return to.
THE PATTERN
Strength can mean gathering yourself to stand again before the outcome has changed.
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.THE THREAD
And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.Both verses use the same Hebrew root in a reflexive form: people strengthen themselves under pressure. In Judges, that gathered strength becomes another battle formation; in Samuel, the verse names the LORD as its anchor.
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