What Does Judges 8:4 Mean in the King James?
And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing 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
The men are faint and pursuing at once: exhaustion describes their condition, not the direction of their movement.
THE MEANING
Your fatigue can be real while your pursuit remains active. At the Jordan, the verse holds weariness and continued movement together without making either one disappear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that exhaustion proves you have already lost your direction: pursuit remains underway while the men are faint.
THE ROOT
וְרֹדְפִים
verodfim
GROWS FROM
רדף
to pursue, chase, or follow after
The Hebrew places ongoing pursuit alongside present weariness. The same root appears in Psalm 23:6, where “follow” describes goodness and faithful love pursuing the speaker, showing that this motion can be caring as well as threatening.
ALSO GROWS
rodef: one pursuing; a pursuer
רֹדֵף
It makes clear that pursuit is active movement toward someone or something, not merely a past effort.
nirdaf: one pursued; persecuted
נִרְדָּף
This form reverses who is moving toward whom, showing how the same root can name both pursuit and being pursued.
THE PATTERN
A pursuit can continue while strength is visibly depleted.
But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.THE THREAD
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.Judges uses רֹדְפִים (rodfim, pursuing) for the chase; Psalm 23:6 uses יִרְדְּפוּנִי (yirdefuni, they will pursue or follow me) from the same root for goodness and faithful love. The root moves from enemies being pursued to goodness and faithful love pursuing you, showing that pursuit names motion, while its source determines whether it brings threat or care.
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