What Does Judges 21:9 Mean in the King James?
For the people were numbered, and, behold, there were none of the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead there.
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 count does more than total the people: it makes the absence from Jabesh-gilead visible.
THE MEANING
The people are counted, and no one from Jabesh-gilead is there. The act of accounting for the group brings its absence into view.
THE ROOT
וַיִּפָּקֵד
wayyippāqēd
GROWS FROM
פקד
To attend to, muster, number, or appoint.
“numbered” in this verse is wayyippāqēd. This is a form of פקד, a root that carries the senses of attending to and mustering as well as numbering. English can make the count sound like arithmetic alone; the Hebrew connects it to bringing the people into account, so their absence becomes visible.
ALSO GROWS
pequddah: Oversight, visitation, or mustering.
פְּקֻדָּה
This related noun shows the root’s wider sense of attending to or taking charge of what is counted.
paqîd: An officer or overseer.
פָּקִיד
The appointed official is another branch of the same root of attending to and overseeing; here, the people are brought into account by being numbered.
מִיּוֹשְׁבֵי
miyyōshĕvē
GROWS FROM
ישב
To sit, dwell, or settle.
The Hebrew word rendered “inhabitants” comes from the root for dwelling or settling. The verse names the missing people through the place they inhabit: no one from those settled in Jabesh-gilead is present.
ALSO GROWS
yāshav: To sit, dwell, or remain.
יָשַׁב
The basic verb makes the link between being an inhabitant and dwelling in a place explicit.
mōshāv: A dwelling place or seat.
מוֹשָׁב
This related noun ties the idea of a settled place to the people who dwell there.
THE PATTERN
When people are accounted for, who is missing becomes visible.
Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?THE THREAD
Then said Saul unto the people that were with him, Number now, and see who is gone from us. And when they had numbered, behold, Jonathan and his armourbearer were not there.The word translated “numbered” comes from פקד in both verses, a root associated with attending to and mustering as well as counting. In each, being counted makes the absence of someone from the group visible.
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