What Does Judges 20:41 Mean in the King James?

And when the men of Israel turned again, the men of Benjamin were amazed: for they saw that evil was come upon them.

Judges 20:41 · 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.

THE KEY

The Hebrew root for “turned” also means “overturned,” so Israel’s turn marks the moment the battle’s whole direction flips.

THE MEANING

This verse catches the instant when reversal becomes visible: Israel turns, and Benjamin sees that calamity has reached them. Their amazement is alarm, not wonder; the danger is already upon them. The text leaves the violence of that recognition stark.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the assumption that the side advancing is safe from reversal: danger can change direction and reach the pursuer. Benjamin sees the change only after calamity is already upon them.

THE ROOT

וַיֵּהָפֵךְ

wayyēhāphēḵ

GROWS FROM

הפך

hāphakh

To turn, overturn, or change a condition.

English can make “turned again” sound like a change of position alone. The Hebrew root also names overturning, so the movement here becomes the hinge of a complete reversal in the battle.

ALSO GROWS

wayyahăphōkh: Overturned the cities (Genesis 19:25).

וַיַּהֲפֹךְ

The same root can describe a total overthrow, giving the turn in Judges the force of a changed situation, not just a changed direction.

hāphakhtā: Turned mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11).

הָפַכְתָּ

The root describes one condition becoming its opposite; here, the turn is military and catastrophic.

וַיִּבָּהֵל

wayyibbāhēl

GROWS FROM

בהל

bāhal

To be alarmed or dismayed; in some forms, to hurry in alarm.

The word translated “amazed” carries the force of being startled and disoriented. Its connection to haste shows how alarm can seize the body as well as the mind.

ALSO GROWS

nibhălū: The dukes of Edom “shall be amazed” (Exodus 15:15).

נִבְהֲלוּ

The same root describes alarm when a threat approaches, matching Benjamin’s shock as the danger reaches them.

yibbāhēl: “He that hasteth to be rich” (Proverbs 28:22).

יִבָּהֵל

The root reaches from dismay to haste, so Benjamin’s amazement carries startled destabilization, not admiration.

הָרָעָה

hā-rāʿāh

GROWS FROM

רעע

rāʿaʿ

Badness, harm, or adversity; depending on context, moral evil or calamity.

Here the word for “evil” also carries the sense of calamity: it is something that has arrived upon them. The verse makes harm concrete and immediate, rather than leaving evil as an abstraction.

ALSO GROWS

raʿ: Bad or evil, as in “the knowledge of good and evil” (Genesis 2:9).

רַע

This form carries the moral shade of evil, while the word in Judges also names harm that has overtaken someone.

hā-rāʿāh: Calamity or harm, as in “lest some evil take me, and I die” (Genesis 19:19).

הָרָעָה

The same word can name a calamity that catches up with someone, making “evil was come upon them” sharply physical.

THE PATTERN

A reversal can overturn apparent safety or advantage, shifting who bears the danger or grief.

And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians.

Exodus 14:25 · KJVThe pursuers become the ones fleeing when the threat changes direction.

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;

Psalm 30:11 · KJVThe same Hebrew turn verb describes mourning becoming dancing, showing the root’s reach across opposite conditions.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

1 Thessalonians 5:3 · KJVSudden destruction reaches those who are declaring safety, collapsing their sense of security.

THE THREAD

Now in the twelfth month, that is, the month Adar, on the thirteenth day of the same, when the king’s commandment and his decree drew near to be put in execution, in the day that the enemies of the Jews hoped to have power over them, (though it was turned to the contrary, that the Jews had rule over them that hated them;)

Esther 9:1 · KJV

Esther uses the same root ⁨הפך⁩ (hāphakh, “turn/overturn”) in “turned to the contrary,” where a threatened outcome reverses direction. Beside Judges, that shared verb makes the turn more than movement: the condition itself is being overturned.

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