What Does Judges 7:3 Mean in the King James?

Now therefore go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand.

Judges 7:3 · 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 invitation and the response are the same turn: the fearful are told to return, and 22,000 do.

THE MEANING

When fear is named in you, it can turn you back before the struggle begins, leaving a smaller company to remain. The verse gives that departure its full weight: 22,000 return, and 10,000 stay.

THE ROOT

שׁוּב

shuv

GROWS FROM

שׁוב

Turn back, return, or turn.

The same root appears in the instruction to return and in the report that the people returned. The verse makes the spoken invitation and its result one movement: the 22,000 enact the turn they are offered.

ALSO GROWS

yashov: Let him return or turn back.

יָשֹׁב

This is the form in the instruction, making return an explicit option.

teshuvah: Return or turning back.

תְּשׁוּבָה

This noun from the same root echoes the passage’s central movement: turning back from the threshold.

יָרֵא

yare

GROWS FROM

ירא

Fear or stand in awe.

“fearful” in this verse is yare. The root can carry fear or awe; here the people fear danger, so the sense is alarm rather than reverence. Paired with the next word, it gives fear a second, bodily dimension.

ALSO GROWS

yirah: Fear or awe.

יִרְאָה

This noun from the same root shows how the word family can name fear in different relations and settings.

yare: One who fears.

יָרֵא

This is the word describing those offered the choice to return.

חָרֵד

chared

GROWS FROM

חרד

Tremble, quake, or be alarmed.

“afraid” in this verse is chared. The phrase does more than repeat the idea of fear: chared adds the sense of trembling to yare’s fear. English makes the two words sound like simple synonyms, while the Hebrew gives fear and shaking together.

ALSO GROWS

charadah: Trembling, alarm, or terror.

חֲרָדָה

This noun from the same root makes the shaking inside chared visible.

chared: One who trembles or is alarmed.

חָרֵד

This is the word used for those who are invited to return.

THE PATTERN

At the edge of conflict, fear can turn a gathered company into people who return, turn back, or flee before the outcome is known.

And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.

Deuteronomy 20:8 · KJVThe fearful person is told to return before the battle, and the verse names how one person’s fear can affect the whole company.

The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.

Psalm 78:9 · KJVA company equipped for battle turns back when the decisive moment arrives.

And they all forsook him, and fled.

Mark 14:50 · KJVThose gathered around Jesus scatter as the crisis begins.

THE THREAD

And the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, What man is there that is fearful and fainthearted? let him go and return unto his house, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart.

Deuteronomy 20:8 · KJV

Both verses use the root ⁨שׁוב⁩ (shuv, turn or return) for the fearful person’s departure; Judges repeats it as both invitation and outcome. Deuteronomy adds that the turning of one person can affect the hearts of the others.

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