What Does Judges 21:20 Mean in the King James?
Therefore they commanded the children of Benjamin, saying, Go and lie in wait in the vineyards;
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 men’s hidden waiting is already part of the violence: concealment makes the women’s seizure possible.
THE MEANING
The command sends Benjamin’s men to hide among the vines. When the women come out to dance, they are to seize wives from them (v. 21), so the waiting is already part of the violence: the plan depends on catching them unaware. The coercion remains plain beneath the language of a plan.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A plan does not become harmless because it is called necessary; concealing the coercion is part of how the women are seized.
THE ROOT
וַאֲרַבְתֶּם
waʾărabtem
GROWS FROM
ארב
ʾ-r-b
To lie in wait; to ambush.
“lie in wait” in this verse is waʾărabtem. Hebrew binds the waiting to the ambush itself: this is not passive patience, but hidden positioning against a target. Here, the root makes concealment part of the violence; the seizure grows out of the waiting.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōrēv: One who lies in wait; an ambusher.
אֹרֵב
The word names the person by the concealed posture that makes an attack possible.
maʾārāv: An ambush; a concealed position from which to attack.
מַאֲרָב
This branch names the hidden arrangement itself, linking the men’s waiting to the trap it prepares.
THE PATTERN
Concealed waiting lets an attacker reach someone before they can respond.
And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king: only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves: lay thee an ambush for the city behind it.He sitteth in the lurking places of the villages: in the secret places doth he murder the innocent: his eyes are privily set against the poor.And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor.THE THREAD
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:Proverbs uses the same Hebrew root, ארב (ʾ-r-b), for lying in wait to spill innocent blood. It makes the connection clear: the concealed waiting is not separate from the harm; it is how the harm begins.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us