What Does Judges 3:23 Mean in the King James?
Then Ehud went forth through the porch, and shut the doors of the parlour upon him, and locked them.
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
Ehud’s exit ends in a fastening: the door closes, and the violence inside passes out of sight.
THE MEANING
A locked door can hide a violent reality from those outside, but it cannot undo what happened within. Closure changes who can see the event, not the event itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A closed door does not make what lies behind it cease to matter; it only blocks access to it.
THE ROOT
וְנָעָל
wə-naʿal
GROWS FROM
נ־ע־ל
n-ʿ-l
To lock or bolt; the same consonants also appear in the Hebrew word for a shoe or sandal.
English separates “locked” from “shoe,” while Hebrew uses the same consonants for both. Here, the final fastening makes Ehud’s departure a sealed boundary around the violence inside.
ALSO GROWS
naʿal: To lock or bolt
נָעַל
This is the action that completes the exit and closes access to the room.
naʿal: Shoe or sandal
נַעַל
The same consonants name something that covers and fits around the foot, echoing the root’s sense of fastening.
וַיִּסְגֹּר
wayyisgōr
GROWS FROM
ס־ג־ר
s-g-r
To shut, close, or enclose.
The English says that Ehud shut the doors, while this root also has a causative form that can mean “hand over.” That broader range resonates with a room now enclosing the dead king, though the verb here means simply “shut.”
ALSO GROWS
sāgūr: Closed or shut
סָגוּר
It describes the closed state created when Ehud shuts the doors.
hisgīr: Handed over or surrendered
הִסְגִּיר
This branch adds a resonance of someone being delivered into another’s custody, while the verse itself describes the room being shut.
THE PATTERN
A shut door marks a boundary around what unfolds inside, while those outside cannot yet see it.
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full.Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.THE THREAD
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and the LORD shut him in.Here, Ehud shuts the doors around a dead king; in Genesis, the LORD shuts Noah and the creatures inside the ark. In both verses, closing the door makes the threshold consequential, while what the boundary contains gives the act its distinct meaning.
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