What Does Deuteronomy 11:7 Mean?
But your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD, which he did.
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
But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the LORD which he did.THE KEY
Sight itself becomes a witness: the LORD’s action is made visible to you.
THE MEANING
The verse addresses you as someone whose eyes have seen the LORD act. The great work is concrete and visible, not an abstract idea. Your seeing makes you a witness to what the LORD does.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that the LORD’s action is only an unseen claim: here, your eyes have seen what was done.
THE ROOT
הָרֹאוֹת
ha-ro'ot
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
to see, look, perceive
“eyes have seen” in this verse is ha-ro'ot. The form presents the eyes as “the seeing ones,” making sight a witness to action. This same root names both a seer and an appearance, binding the one who sees to what is made visible.
ALSO GROWS
ro'eh: seer; one who sees
רֹאֶה
This branch makes the act of seeing into a person’s role: the eyes in this verse bear witness.
mar'eh: appearance; sight
מַרְאֶה
This branch names what comes into view, linking the LORD’s deeds with what the eyes perceive.
מַעֲשֵׂה
ma'aseh
GROWS FROM
עשה
asah
to do, make
“great work” in this verse is ma'aseh. Ma’aseh names a deed or work from the root עשה (asah), “to do, make.” The word keeps the LORD’s doing inside the “acts” you see: the verse points to action made visible.
ALSO GROWS
oseh: doing; one who does or makes
עֹשֶׂה
This form keeps the focus on the one acting, which the verse identifies as the LORD.
asiyyah: making; action
עֲשִׂיָּה
This branch carries the root’s sense of action, illuminating the deeds as what has been done.
THE PATTERN
Seeing becomes witness when the LORD’s action takes visible form.
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.Come and see the works of God, awe-filled in his doing upon the children of humankind.And the word became flesh and pitched a tent among us, and we beheld his weight, the weight as of the only-born from the Father, full of favor and truth.THE THREAD
And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, take your stand, and see the deliverance of the LORD, which he will do for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again for the ages.Both verses use ראה (ra’ah), “to see.” In Deuteronomy, your eyes see the LORD’s deeds; in Exodus, seeing opens onto the LORD’s deliverance. The shared root links visible action with recognition of what the LORD does.
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