What Does Deuteronomy 1:7 Mean?
Turn, and pull up your stakes, and go to the mountain of the Amorites, and to all the places beside it, in the plain, in the hills, and in the lowland, and in the parched south, and along the shore of the sea, to the land of the Canaanites, and to Lebanon, to the great river, the river Euphrates.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.THE KEY
The Hebrew moves from turning toward the route, to setting out, to entering: its destination is a place you move into, not just a point ahead.
THE MEANING
The verse meets you at the threshold of movement: turn, set out, enter. The way ahead runs through plains, hills, valleys, southern ground, and shoreline, so varied terrain belongs to the route. Arrival means crossing into the place named.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The way forward must be one straight, upward climb.
THE ROOT
וּבֹאוּ
u-vo’u
GROWS FROM
בוא
Come, arrive, enter.
“go to” in this verse is u-vo’u. The word rendered “go” carries the sense of coming or entering. The language pictures the route from its destination too: you are not only heading away from where you stand, but moving into the place named.
ALSO GROWS
mavo: Entrance, approach.
מָבוֹא
The destination in the verse is something approached and entered.
bi’ah: Coming, arrival, entry.
בִּיאָה
This branch brings out the arrival contained in the command to go.
וּסְעוּ
u-se’u
GROWS FROM
נסע
Depart, set out, travel.
“pull up your stakes” in this verse is u-se’u. The word behind “journey” points to setting out. Before the many landscapes come into view, the verse names the moment of departure from where you are.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A journey or stage of travel.
מַסָּע
The route is made of successive stretches, not one abstract leap to the destination.
nesi’ah: A trip or journey.
נְסִיעָה
This branch keeps the emphasis on the act of setting out.
פְּנוּ
penu
GROWS FROM
פנה
Turn toward, face, attend to.
The first movement is a change of orientation. The related word for “face” makes the image concrete: before the route begins, the verse names where you turn your face.
ALSO GROWS
panim: Face.
פָּנִים
The face gives turning a direction and an object.
pniyah: A turn or change of direction.
פְּנִיָּה
This branch echoes the verse’s opening movement toward a new route.
THE PATTERN
A route opens when you leave a known place and move through real terrain toward a place to enter.
And the LORD said to Abram, Go away from your land, from your land of birth, and from your father's house, to the land I will let you see.He leads them along the straight way, so that they go to a city to settle in.A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood there, urging him and saying, Cross over into Macedonia and help us.THE THREAD
See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take hold of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and to their seed after them.The “go” in both verses comes from בוא (bo), meaning “come” or “enter.” Verse 1:7 maps the terrain on the way; verse 1:8 carries the same movement through the threshold into the land.
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