What Does Judges 21:5 Mean in the King James?

And the children of Israel said, Who is there among all the tribes of Israel that came not up with the congregation unto the LORD? For they had made a great oath concerning him that came not up to the LORD to Mizpeh, saying, He shall surely be put to death.

Judges 21:5 · 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

A vow made in the LORD’s presence has turned nonattendance itself into a capital offense.

THE MEANING

You are looking at a community whose oath makes one person’s absence a death sentence. The verse holds the vow and its stated consequence side by side: the one who does not come is marked for death.

THE ROOT

שְׁבוּעָה

shevu'ah

GROWS FROM

שׁבע

To swear; the same consonants also form the Hebrew word for seven.

The oath belongs to the same root as “seven,” a link made explicit in the name Beersheba. Here, that binding word governs a death sentence for the person who is absent.

ALSO GROWS

nishbaʿ: swore

נִשְׁבַּע

The act of swearing and the oath share a root, tying the spoken pledge to the obligation it creates.

shevaʿ: seven

שֶׁבַע

This shared root echoes in Beersheba, where the biblical text links an oath with seven.

מוֹת יוּמָת

môt yûmāt

GROWS FROM

מות

To die or be dead.

“shall surely be put to death” in this verse is môt yûmāt. The Hebrew pairs two forms of the same root: literally, “dying, he shall be put to death.” English renders the emphasis as “surely,” while the doubled root makes death the unmistakable force of the oath.

ALSO GROWS

mût: to die

מוּת

This verb shares the root heard twice in the death sentence.

māvet: death

מָוֶת

The related noun names the consequence the oath assigns to the absent person.

THE PATTERN

A binding vow turns spoken words into obligations with consequences beyond the moment they are made.

If a man vow a vow unto the LORD, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond; he shall not break his word, he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.

Numbers 30:2 · KJVThe verse describes an oath as a bond that binds the speaker to what has been said.

But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God’s throne:

Matthew 5:34 · KJVJesus directly addresses the weight attached to swearing an oath.

Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.

Ecclesiastes 5:5 · KJVThe verse shows that a vow carries consequences after the moment of speaking.

THE THREAD

Wherefore he called that place Beer-sheba; because there they sware both of them.

Genesis 21:31 · KJV

The Hebrew for “sware,” ⁨נִשְׁבַּע⁩ (nishbaʿ, swore), shares the root ⁨שׁבע⁩ with ⁨שְׁבוּעָה⁩ (shevu’ah, oath) in Judges. Beersheba’s name carries the related wordplay of oath and seven, linking this binding word to the oath that makes absence fatal in Judges.

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