What Does Judges 7:6 Mean in the King James?
And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.
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 verse marks a difference in how thirst is met, while the thirst and water are shared.
THE MEANING
The same need appears in two postures: some bring water to their mouths with their hands, while the rest bend down to drink. The verse counts the smaller group by what they do, without calling either posture better.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that people respond alike just because they share the same need.
THE ROOT
הַמְלַקְּקִים
hamelaqeqim
GROWS FROM
לקק
l-q-q
To lick or lap up with the tongue.
“lapped” in this verse is hamelaqeqim. The Hebrew word for those who lap comes from a root meaning to lick. That connection makes the action precise: the water reaches the mouth through a repeated, close movement, while the rest bend down to drink.
ALSO GROWS
laqaq: To lick or lap up liquid.
לָקַק
This is the root verb behind the group’s distinctive way of drinking.
melaqqeq: One who licks or laps.
מְלַקֵּק
This participle names a person by the repeated act that distinguishes the group.
מִסְפָּר
mispar
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-f-r
To count or recount.
The same consonants also form words for a book and for telling or recounting. The English “number” can sound like a bare statistic; here it marks a group precisely by the action the verse has just described.
ALSO GROWS
safar: To count, number, or recount.
סָפַר
This verb carries the basic act of counting found in the verse’s “number.”
sefer: A book, scroll, or written document.
סֵפֶר
It shares the root’s consonants and brings counting into the wider family of what is recorded.
sipper: To tell, relate, or recount.
סִפֵּר
It shows that the root can also describe recounting in words.
THE PATTERN
Scripture repeatedly frames thirst as a need answered by coming to and receiving water.
Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.THE THREAD
So he brought down the people unto the water: and the LORD said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink.The same Hebrew verb, לִשְׁתּוֹת (lishtot, “to drink”), appears in both verses. Verse 7:5 names the contrasting ways of drinking that verse 7:6 then counts.
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