What Does Judges 5:19 Mean in the King James?

The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of Canaan in Taanach by the waters of Megiddo; they took no gain of money.

Judges 5:19 · 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

The word for gain carries the image of cutting something away, yet the kings’ fighting produces no silver to carry off.

THE MEANING

The kings fight, but the line still records no monetary gain taken. It holds conflict and profit side by side, showing that force can be spent without creating possession.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that force guarantees a payoff dissolves here: the kings fight, yet take no silver-profit.

THE ROOT

בֶּצַע

betsa

GROWS FROM

בצע

b-ts-ʿ

To cut off or break off; by extension, gain or spoil.

The verse uses ⁨בֶּצַע⁩ (betsa, gain or profit), from ⁨בָּצַע⁩ (batsa, to cut off or break off). The root makes profit sound like something seized by cutting away, so the final clause is sharper than a report of poor returns: the kings fight, but no such taking occurs.

ALSO GROWS

batsa: To cut off or break off.

בָּצַע

This verb carries the root’s image of something being cut away, beneath the verse’s word for gain.

botsea: One who seeks or is greedy for gain.

בֹּצֵעַ

Proverbs uses this form with the same root, linking the kings’ unrealized profit to the one who pursues gain.

THE PATTERN

Gain pursued as security cannot satisfy or preserve the life of its possessor.

He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 · KJVSilver gained cannot satisfy the desire that keeps reaching for more.

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Proverbs 1:19 · KJVThe pursuit of gain can consume the life of the very person who seeks to possess it.

And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.

Luke 12:15 · KJVPossessions do not secure or define the life of the one who has them.

THE THREAD

So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Proverbs 1:19 · KJV

Judges uses ⁨בֶּצַע⁩ (betsa, gain or profit); Proverbs echoes the same root in ⁨בֹּצֵעַ בָּצַע⁩ (botsea betsa, greedy for gain). The kings take no silver, while Proverbs reveals the life-cost that can accompany the grasping pursuit itself.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us