What Does Judges 3:12 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD: and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
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
What the KJV calls doing evil “again” carries the sense of adding to it: each return strengthens the pressure that rises against Israel.
THE MEANING
Repeated wrongdoing does not remain weightless; each return adds to the condition until the force pressing against you grows stronger. The verse places that strengthening directly in the LORD’s hands and ties it to what remains wrong in the LORD’s sight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that repeating the same harm leaves its weight unchanged is undone: each return can add to the force that confronts you.
THE ROOT
וַיֹּסִפוּ
wayyosifu
GROWS FROM
י־ס־ף
y-s-f
to add, increase, or continue
The verb rendered “again” carries the seed sense of adding or continuing. The Hebrew presents the repeated evil as another addition, so recurrence reads as accumulation rather than a reset.
ALSO GROWS
yasaf: add, continue, do again
יָסַף
This is the verb’s root form and makes the sense of addition inside “again” visible.
Yosef: Joseph; “may he add”
יוֹסֵף
Joseph’s name carries the same root, showing how the seed of addition also appears in a personal name.
וַיְחַזֵּק
wayechazzeq
GROWS FROM
ח־ז־ק
ḥ-z-q
to be strong or firm; to strengthen or take hold
“strengthened” in this verse is wayechazzeq. The verb says the LORD makes Eglon strong against Israel. This root also carries the sense of holding fast, giving the verse’s rising opposition the feel of a force made firm and given a grip.
ALSO GROWS
ḥazaq: strong, firm, mighty
חָזָק
This form names the strength the LORD gives Eglon in the verse.
heḥĕzîq: hold fast, take hold, maintain
הֶחֱזִיק
The same root can describe holding on, echoing the force that takes hold against Israel.
THE PATTERN
Repeated wrongdoing can culminate in God handing people over to a force that comes to govern them.
And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he sold them into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the children of Ammon.And he gave them into the hand of the heathen; and they that hated them ruled over them.Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:THE THREAD
And she called his name Joseph; and said, The LORD shall add to me another son.The verb rendered “again” comes from יסף (yasaf), “add” or “continue”; Rachel uses the same root in “shall add,” and Joseph’s name echoes it as Yosef. The shared root makes the repeated evil feel cumulative: each return is another addition.
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