What Does Ruth 4:2 Mean in the King James?
And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.
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 Hebrew verb for “sit” also means “dwell”: the elders’ posture carries the sense of taking a place and remaining there.
THE MEANING
A consequential matter takes public form when people gather in one place. The elders take their seats, giving the conversation a shared setting rather than leaving it between two people.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It is only a private conversation between two people; who is present changes nothing.
THE ROOT
שְׁבוּ
shevū vayyēshēvū
GROWS FROM
י־ש־ב
yod-shin-bet
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“sit down / sat down” in this verse is shevū vayyēshēvū. English makes this sound like a brief change in posture, but יָשַׁב (yashab) spans sitting, remaining, and dwelling. Its branches extend the idea into a dwelling place and a sitting or session, so the elders are a gathered presence around what follows.
ALSO GROWS
moshav: Dwelling place, seat, or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch connects sitting with occupying a place, echoing the elders’ presence around the matter.
yeshivah: Sitting or session; an assembly or study session.
יְשִׁיבָה
This branch carries sitting into a gathering that remains together for a purpose.
THE PATTERN
A matter moves from private exchange to shared standing when witnesses gather around it.
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.THE THREAD
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.Ruth uses the root י־ש־ב (yod-shin-bet) for the elders’ “sat down”; Psalm 1 uses it for “sitteth” and “seat.” The shared root lets sitting carry the added sense of settling into a place or company, so Ruth’s posture becomes a picture of a matter held in public presence.
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