What Does Judges 20:48 Mean in the King James?
And the men of Israel turned again upon the children of Benjamin, and smote them with the edge of the sword, as well the men of every city, as the beast, and all that came to hand: also they set on fire all the cities that they came to.
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 word translated “set on fire” comes from shalach, send forth, release, so here violence is sent outward until it reaches people, animals, and entire cities.
THE MEANING
The verse shows violence turning back and spreading beyond fighters to animals, everyone found, and whole cities. The sword reaches bodies; the fire consumes dwellings, leaving no boundary around the destruction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that violence can stay confined to its intended target is undone here: the slaughter reaches every person and animal in range, and the fire takes the cities.
THE ROOT
שִׁלְּחוּ
shillĕḥu
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ל־ח
shalach
To send, send forth, release, or let go.
The verb rendered “set on fire” is a form of shalach, followed by “in fire”: the cities are sent into flame. The root can also mean release, but here what is sent forth is destruction, spreading from people and animals to the cities.
ALSO GROWS
shilluaḥ: An act of sending away or releasing.
שִׁלּוּחַ
It shows the root’s motion of sending outward; in this verse that motion carries fire into the cities.
Shiloach: A name associated with waters described as sent forth.
שִׁלֹחַ
The same root can describe something sent outward as water; here it is fire that moves outward through the cities.
שָׁבוּ
shavu
GROWS FROM
שׁ־ו־ב
shuv
To turn, return, or turn back.
“turned again” in this verse is shavu. The verb names a return or turn, but it does not itself mean repair or restoration. What follows fixes the direction of this turn: it leads back into slaughter and burning.
ALSO GROWS
shuv: To turn back or return.
שׁוּב
It is the root verb behind the verse’s “turned again,” placing the renewed violence in the motion of a return.
teshuvah: A turning back or return.
תְּשׁוּבָה
This related form makes the root’s central image of turning visible; in this verse, the turn carries no promise of repair.
THE PATTERN
When violence spreads beyond its intended target, it reaches people, living things, and the places they inhabit.
And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.THE THREAD
Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.Exodus uses the same root, shalach, when Pharaoh is told to release the people; Judges uses it for sending cities into fire. The root’s motion is sending forth, while its object and direction show whether that movement opens a way out or carries destruction.
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