In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit. – Judges 21:25
Build sentences in the order of 5W1H
Under the leadership of Joshua, the nation of Israel successfully entered the Promised Land, Canaan, as promised by God. The twelve tribes of Israel each took possession of their own land, forming a kind of tribal confederation. The absence of a king essentially meant that each tribal leader governed their own tribe. In the case of the Israelite tribes, a figure known as a Judge served as the leader. The Judges of Israel acted as military commanders during times of oppression or war from other nations and served as judges in peacetime, attempting governance according to the word of God. This period of Israelite history is documented in the Book of Judges, the seventh book of the Bible.
On another note, the absence of a king suggests that there was no strong centralized power. Therefore, it’s likely that each tribe or individual acted as they saw fit, which could include conflicts among the same tribe. The aforementioned biblical passage refers to the conflict between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes of Israel, marking the final remark made by the author of the Book of Judges on this dispute.
The era of the Judges, documented between 1300 and 1050 BCE, was a time without major invasions from outside, but inevitable wars with other tribes residing in the land of Palestine, such as the Canaanites, Moabites, Midianites, Ammonites, and Philistines, were prevalent. While the Bible speaks of a history of cyclical judgment and salvation, the Book of Judges unfolds a series of episodes featuring invasions by other nations as judgments and deliverance through the Judges.
A verb must immediately follow the subject. Then, according to our word order, the sentence is formed by resolving the arising questions. The first of these questions is ‘who’, referring to a person, though this includes cases where animals or objects are personified. For instance, after saying “I love,” one would naturally wonder ‘who’ the subject loves. If not a person, the next likely focus would be on an object, meaning ‘what’.
Some verbs inherently draw attention to people or objects, especially those that require an object. We refer to these as transitive verbs, which always come with an object. The very name ‘transitive’ implies ‘to move something’, indicating the necessity of an object to move. Hence, verbs that require an object are called transitive. Representative of transitive verbs are verbs like ‘like’. These verbs can take an object, and in fact, need an object to complete the sentence.
Honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself. – Matthew 19:19)
“Honor your parents, Love your neighbor.” This is a commonly used expression format, and knowing these types of verbs makes it easier to express “S+V+O(object)” in English. From another perspective, if inserting ‘the object’ before the verb translates naturally, it’s considered a transitive verb; if it sounds awkward, it’s likely an intransitive verb.
S + V + (Who + What) + [Where + Why + How + When]
In English, transitive verbs automatically form an object without requiring any additional elements; simply placing a noun immediately after the verb suffices to create “the object.” On the other hand, in Korean, to designate a noun as an object, the particles ‘을’ or ‘를’ are necessary. Similarly, Korean requires specific particles to indicate subjects, not just objects.
Unlike Korean, English does not require such particles as long as the nouns are positioned correctly. While this might seem simpler, it actually presents a greater challenge because in English, the grammatical role of nouns (such as subject or object) is determined by their placement within the sentence.
Enter: Verbs That Look Intransitive but Are Actually Transitive
Transitive verbs, as mentioned above, can have an object following the verb. However, there are transitive verbs in English that can easily be mistaken for intransitive verbs because they don’t translate directly to actions done ‘to’ something in Korean. For instance, the expression “to enter somewhere” feels intransitive in Korean. The appropriate English word for “to enter” is undoubtedly “enter.” However, the verb “enter” can be used both intransitively and more commonly with an object that denotes a place. The following biblical passage serves as a good example:
“Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:24)
Thus, verbs like attend, enter, reach, approach, leave, address, inhabit, and answer can easily be mistaken for intransitive verbs because their objects can translate to ‘to,’ ‘toward,’ or ‘into.’
“I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly -mere infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1)
Let’s also categorize a few other verbs that could be misunderstood as intransitive, according to their types.
Type: Survive
This category includes verbs like survive, excel which can be misunderstood as intransitive because they are translated as being superior in some way.
“The people who survive the sword will find favor in the desert; I will come to give rest to Israel.” (Jeremiah 31:2)
“Survived the sword” translates to ‘escape from the sword,’ yet survive is a transitive verb that can take an object.
Type: Marry
Verbs such as marry, resemble, join, contact, etc., can be mistaken due to their translation implying ‘with.’
“Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt and married his daughter.” (1 Kings 3:1)
“I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying to God for me.” (Romans 15:30)
It’s correct to say “join me,” not “join with me.”
Type: Discuss
Discuss is a transitive verb that can be mistaken for intransitive because it translates to ‘about.’
“But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.” (Hebrews 9:5)
Intransitive Verbs that Seem Transitive in Translation
Despite grammatically being intransitive, some verbs seem to carry an object in their Korean translation, such as ‘See’ and ‘Look,’ both translating to ‘to look’ in Korean. However, see is used transitively, whereas look is used intransitively. Consider the following two biblical passages.
Do you see a man who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for him. – Proverbs 29:20)
Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart. – 1 Samuel 16:7)
In “Do you see a man?” the object ‘a man’ directly follows ‘See’, making ‘See’ a transitive verb. Conversely, there are cases where an object cannot directly follow the verb, as in “Man looks at the things.” Grammatically, it’s because ‘look’ is an intransitive verb. However, by adding the preposition ‘at’, making ‘look at the things’ possible, it shows that intransitive verbs can express interest in people (who) and objects (what) with the form <verb + preposition>.
In English, there are intransitive verbs that take objects with the help of prepositions. There’s no need to be confused. Such expressions can simply be seen as <verb + preposition> acting as one verb. Let’s examine such verbs and expressions.
But they need not account for the money entrusted to them because they are acting faithfully. – 2 Kings 22:7)
Don’t listen to him or agree to his demands. – 1 Kings 20:8)
I look for your deliverance, O LORD. – Genesis 49:18)
Additionally, expressions like look at, reply to, wait for, Graduate from, interfere with, sympathize with are verbs that, while intransitive, can mistakenly be thought of as transitive. However, with the appropriate preposition, they can indeed take an object.
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