What Does Deuteronomy 10:20 Mean?
Stand in awe of the LORD your God; him you serve, and to him you cling, and by his nature you swear.
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
Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.THE KEY
Awe becomes a whole-life bond: service, clinging, and even an oath shaped by the nature of the One you hold fast to.
THE MEANING
Awe of the LORD is the center of a bond that takes shape in service and clinging. To swear by his name is to stake your words on the nature carried in that name. Here reverence reaches through action, attachment, and speech.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that reverence is only an inward feeling: the verse also names service, clinging, and words bound to God’s nature.
THE ROOT
תִּדְבָּק
tidbaq
GROWS FROM
דבק
To stick, cling, or hold fast.
“cling” in this verse is tidbaq. English “cleave” can sound formal, while דבק carries the tactile sense of sticking close. The same verb describes a husband joining his wife and Ruth clinging to Naomi; here it names a bond measured by attachment, not mere proximity.
ALSO GROWS
vedavaq: He shall cleave or cling (Genesis 2:24).
וְדָבַק
The same verb describes a bond close enough to make two become one flesh.
vattidbaq: She clung (Ruth 1:14).
וַתִּדְבַּק
Ruth’s attachment to Naomi shows this root as a tenacious bond between people.
תִּירָא
tira
GROWS FROM
ירא
To fear or revere; with God as the one feared, to stand in awe.
“stand in awe” in this verse is tira. The verse’s fear is awe toward God, and the line immediately gives that awe a lived form in service and clinging. The root’s range holds reverence alongside fear, letting the object of that fear shape its sense.
ALSO GROWS
yir’ah: Awe or reverent fear.
יִרְאָה
This noun names the inward posture expressed by the command to fear the LORD.
nora: Awe-inspiring or fearsome.
נוֹרָא
This related form shows how the root can describe the quality that evokes awe.
תַּעֲבֹד
ta’avod
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work or serve.
English “serve” can suggest a role or ritual; עבד also means to work. The verse folds devotion into the work of life, so awe takes a practiced form.
ALSO GROWS
avodah: Work or service.
עֲבֹדָה
This noun shows the root’s range from labor to service.
eved: Servant or worker.
עֶבֶד
The related noun names a person through the work or service they perform.
THE PATTERN
Attachment to God takes shape as reverent awe, practiced service, and a bond that holds.
For if you truly guard all these commands which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him.But cling to the LORD your God, as you have done until this day.Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it stays in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.THE THREAD
My living soul clings after you, and your right hand grasps me.The Hebrew verb behind “followeth hard” is דָּבַק (dabaq), the same root translated “cleave” in this verse. The psalm pictures the living soul clinging after God while God’s hand upholds it, an attachment answered by support.
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