What Does Judges 20:26 Mean in the King James?
Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the LORD, and fasted that day until even, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
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
They go up to the house of God in grief, and even the burnt offering is named for ascent: Hebrew binds their approach and offering into one movement.
THE MEANING
When failure leaves you without an answer, this verse meets you in the company of others: the people come before the LORD, weep, remain, and fast until evening. Their offerings hold approach and wholeness within the same day as sorrow. The passage does not say the tears have stopped; it keeps grief in the presence of God and makes room for wholeness beside it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse dissolves the belief that you must be composed before you can stand before God: the people arrive weeping and remain there.
THE ROOT
וַיַּעֲלוּ
wayyaʿalu
GROWS FROM
עלה
ʿ-l-h
To go up, rise, or ascend.
“went up / burnt offerings” in this verse is wayyaʿalu. The verse uses this root for both the people’s going up and the burnt offerings they bring. English separates those acts, while Hebrew joins the approach and the offering as one movement of ascent.
ALSO GROWS
ʿālāh: To go up or ascend.
עָלָה
This verb is the root behind the people’s movement toward the house of God.
ʿōlāh: An ascending offering, rendered “burnt offering.”
עֹלָה
This is the offering named from the same root as “went up.”
ʿăliyyāh: Ascent or going up.
עֲלִיָּה
It preserves the root’s sense of upward movement in a noun.
שְׁלָמִים
shelamim
GROWS FROM
שלם
sh-l-m
To be whole or complete, or to bring something to completion.
The word translated “peace offerings” belongs to the family of shalom, wholeness and well-being. The name carries wholeness into a scene where the people are still weeping; it does not imply their grief is already over.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: Wholeness, well-being.
שָׁלוֹם
The same root makes the offering’s name resonate with wholeness.
shalem: Whole, complete.
שָׁלֵם
This form makes the root’s sense of completeness explicit.
shillem: To repay or recompense.
שִׁלֵּם
It shows the root can also describe making good or completing an obligation.
וַיֵּשְׁבוּ
wayyeshvu
GROWS FROM
ישב
y-sh-b
To sit, settle, dwell, or remain.
The verb translated “sat” also carries the sense of dwelling or remaining. The people stay before the LORD through their grief instead of merely passing through the place.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit, dwell, or remain.
יָשַׁב
This is the root verb behind their sitting there.
moshav: A dwelling place or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
It shows the same root extending from sitting to a place of dwelling.
yoshev: One who dwells or an inhabitant.
יֹשֵׁב
It carries the root’s sense of remaining into the person who lives in a place.
THE PATTERN
When distress is shared, people gather before God and give it time through lament, fasting, or poured-out prayer.
And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.THE THREAD
And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.In both verses, the Hebrew word עֹלָה (ʿōlāh, an ascending offering) comes from עלה (ʿ-l-h, to go up or ascend); in Genesis, even “offered” comes from that root. Judges 20:26 repeats it in both “went up” and the offerings, joining approach and offering in one movement.
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