What Does Judges 4:1 Mean in the King James?
And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, when Ehud was dead.
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 word translated “again” means “they added”, the old wrong is brought forward into the present.
THE MEANING
A familiar wrong can return to a community’s present after a major loss, and it remains fully seen by the LORD. Ehud’s death marks the moment beside the return, though the verse does not say it causes it.
THE ROOT
וַיֹּסִפוּ
wayyōsîp̄û
GROWS FROM
יסף
To add, increase, or continue; in context, to do again.
The verb comes from יסף, “to add,” so “again” carries the sense of bringing the old action into the present. The same root can describe another birth or appear in a name meaning “may he add”; the root itself is neutral, and what is added determines whether the scene brings life or repeats harm.
ALSO GROWS
wattōsep: “And she added”; rendered “again” in Genesis 4:2.
וַתֹּסֶף
The same root describes another birth, showing that it signals addition or repetition rather than moral direction.
Yôsēph: Joseph; a name connected with “may he add.”
יוֹסֵף
The name carries the same add or continue sense beyond this verb, making the root’s core meaning audible in another form.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents repetition as something added into the present, and what is added can bring life or repeat harm.
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.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.But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.THE THREAD
And she again bare his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.The verb translated “again” in Judges comes from the same root as “again bare” in Genesis. The root means adding or continuing; what is added can be new life or a familiar wrong.
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