What Does Deuteronomy 13:11 Mean?
And all Israel shall hear and respond, and shall tremble, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this among you.
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
And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.THE KEY
After the offender is stoned, the whole community’s fear is meant to deter anyone from repeating the act.
THE MEANING
The surrounding command makes the mechanism explicit: the person who entices others to other gods is stoned, and all Israel is meant to hear and fear. The verse treats this offense as a danger within the community and uses the threat of a public death to deter its return. Its stated aim is severe: lethal punishment is used to prevent repetition.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the idea that an attempt to turn others toward idolatry is merely private: this law treats it as a danger within the community and makes the whole community’s fear part of its deterrent.
THE ROOT
יִשְׁמְעוּ
yishmeʿu
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, heed; in context, hearing that carries into response.
“hear and respond” in this verse is yishmeʿu. The verse moves from hearing to fear to no longer doing the act, so hearing is the first link in a chain of response. The root’s range of hearing and heeding lets the action that follows the word be heard inside the English phrase.
ALSO GROWS
shamaʿ: Hear, listen, heed
שָׁמַע
It shows that hearing can be attentive reception, the start of the response this verse expects.
shemuʿah: Report, news, something heard
שְׁמוּעָה
A warning can arrive as a report to be heard; here, what the whole community hears is meant to change what follows.
בְּקִרְבֶּךָ
bəqirbekha
GROWS FROM
קרב
q-r-b
Approach or draw near; in this form, the inward parts or midst.
“among you” in this verse is bəqirbekha. The offense is located בְּקִרְבֶּךָ, in the community’s midst. The same consonants appear in words for the inward parts and for drawing near, bringing the offense close to the community rather than placing it outside its concern.
ALSO GROWS
qerev: Inward parts, interior, midst
קֶרֶב
This is the sense carried by “among you”: the act is located within the community.
qarav: Approach, draw near
קָרַב
The shared root connects the community’s “midst” with nearness, giving “among you” an inward, close sense.
וְיִרָאוּן
veyiraʾun
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
Fear, dread, or awe, according to the setting.
“tremble” in this verse is veyiraʾun. Here the fear is dread among people: the surrounding command makes the public death the consequence they are meant to fear. This root can also describe awe, but this verse’s setting makes its severe, deterrent force plain.
ALSO GROWS
yare: Fear, be afraid
יָרֵא
This verb names the response the verse expects from those who hear the judgment.
yirʾah: Fear, dread, awe
יִרְאָה
Its range can include awe, but here the context points to dread of a lethal penalty.
THE PATTERN
A publicly enforced judgment is meant to turn communal hearing into fear that prevents recurrence.
And those who remain shall hear and respond, and fear, and shall not add again to do any such evil within you.And great fear came upon the whole assembly, and upon all who heard these things.THE THREAD
And all the people shall hear and respond, and fear, and no longer act in a boiling over.This verse repeats the same Hebrew roots for hearing (שמע, sh-m-ʿ) and fearing (ירא, y-r-ʾ), then joins them to a command against doing the act again. The repeated formula shows how hearing is meant to become conduct, with fear as part of that movement.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us