What Does Numbers 35:17 Mean in the King James?
And if he smite him with throwing a stone, wherewith he may die, and he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
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 stone that brings death also brings the name רֹצֵחַ (rōṣēaḥ, murderer), joining weapon, outcome, and judgment in one line.
THE MEANING
When a hand-thrown stone strikes with lethal force and death follows, the act receives the name “murder,” and the sentence is death. The verse binds the deed, the name, and the consequence together.
THE ROOT
רֹצֵחַ
rōṣēaḥ
GROWS FROM
רצח
to murder or slay
The noun רֹצֵחַ (rōṣēaḥ, murderer) and the verb רָצַח (rāṣaḥ, murder or slay) share the three consonants ר-צ-ח (r-ṣ-ḥ). Hebrew keeps the doer’s name visibly grown from the act; the verse repeats that name when it states the sentence, binding the classification and consequence.
ALSO GROWS
rāṣaḥ: to murder or slay
רָצַח
The verb names the act from which the verse’s designation רֹצֵחַ (rōṣēaḥ, murderer) is formed.
rōṣēaḥ: murderer
רֹצֵחַ
The verse uses this agent noun for the one whose blow causes death, then repeats it as the sentence is stated.
THE PATTERN
Lethal violence is named by its act and bound to a mortal consequence.
Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.THE THREAD
And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.Numbers 35:16 uses the same root רצח (rāṣaḥ, murder) and repeats the same sentence after a blow with iron. The stone in verse 17 is another instrument in the same pattern: the act, its name, and its consequence stay linked.
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