What Does Judges 20:32 Mean in the King James?

And the children of Benjamin said, They are smitten down before us, as at the first. But the children of Israel said, Let us flee, and draw them from the city unto the highways.

Judges 20:32 · 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

Israel’s retreat is the hook that pulls Benjamin away from the city’s shelter.

THE MEANING

Something that looks like a familiar loss can conceal a deliberate redirection. Here, retreat becomes the means of drawing confidence out from behind the city walls and onto exposed roads. The appearance alone does not reveal who is shaping the movement.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

A force that appears to be retreating has necessarily lost control of the encounter.

THE ROOT

וּנְתַקְּנֵהוּ

unetaqqenehu

GROWS FROM

נתק

nataq

To tear away, detach, or pull loose.

The English “draw” can sound like a neutral invitation, while ⁨נתק⁩ carries the sharper image of pulling something loose. The strategy is to detach Benjamin from the city’s cover; the retreat works by changing where the fight happens.

ALSO GROWS

nataq: To pull off, tear away, or detach.

נָתַק

This form makes the force of the tactic visible: Benjamin is being pulled away from the city’s protection.

nittaq: To be torn away or break loose.

נִתַּק

This form shows the same movement from the other side: the pursued force becomes separated from the place it trusts.

THE PATTERN

A pursuer’s reading of apparent vulnerability can steer it away from protection and into exposure.

For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.

Exodus 14:3 · KJVPharaoh reads Israel’s position as entrapment, a perception that draws him into pursuit.

(For they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first: therefore we will flee before them.

Joshua 8:6 · KJVA seeming retreat is deliberately used to draw the pursuers away from the city.

THE THREAD

And all the people that were in Ai were called together to pursue after them: and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.

Joshua 8:16 · KJV

The same Hebrew root behind “draw” here appears as the people of Ai are “drawn away from the city.” In Judges, the root names the intended pull; in Joshua, it shows that pull taking effect.

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