What Does Deuteronomy 16:2 Mean?
And you shall slaughter the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, in the place the LORD will choose to settle his nature there.
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 therefore sacrifice the passover unto the LORD thy God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which the LORD shall choose to place his name there.THE KEY
The Hebrew says that God’s name is made to dwell in the chosen place, not merely assigned to it.
THE MEANING
Deliverance belongs to the LORD and takes material form in the offering from the flock and herd. The chosen place is where God’s nature dwells; it is more than a location bearing a label.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God’s name is only a title attached to a place, with no dwelling presence.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁכֵּן שְׁמוֹ שָׁם
leshakken shemo sham
GROWS FROM
שכן
To settle, dwell, inhabit
“to settle his nature there” in this verse is leshakken shemo sham. The verb rendered “place” is leshakken, “to cause to dwell.” Shemo (שְׁמוֹ, his name as nature) and sham (שָׁם, there) echo the same consonants under different vowels, binding nature to location in the verse’s sound.
ALSO GROWS
shakan: Dwell, settle
שָׁכַן
This verbal form reveals that the name is described as taking up residence.
mishkan: Dwelling place, tabernacle
מִשְׁכָּן
The dwelling place comes from the same root, joining sacred place with the act of dwelling.
shokhen: One who dwells
שֹׁכֵן
This form names the inhabitant, keeping the focus on presence rather than a bare location.
פֶּסַח
pesaḥ
GROWS FROM
פסח
Pass over, spare
Passover is named from pāsaḥ, to pass over or spare. The offering carries deliverance within its name: the movement through danger into being spared is part of the word itself.
ALSO GROWS
pāsaḥ: Pass over, spare
פָּסַח
The verb shows the movement of deliverance held inside the Passover name.
pesaḥ: Passover, Passover offering
פֶּסַח
The noun names both the deliverance and the offering brought to the LORD.
יִבְחַר
yivḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
Choose, select
“choose” in this verse is yivḥar. The place is chosen by the LORD; its sacredness is not self-declared. The root places the selection before the dwelling: the place of presence is determined by the one who chooses.
ALSO GROWS
baḥar: Choose, select
בָּחַר
This is the verb behind the LORD’s choosing of the place.
mivḥar: Choice, selected portion
מִבְחָר
This noun carries the idea of selection into what is chosen.
THE PATTERN
Deliverance is gathered where the divine nature takes up residence among people.
And let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.That your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you have said, My name shall be there, so that you may hear and respond to the prayer which your servant makes toward this place.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 let them make me a set-apart place, that I may pitch my tent among them.The same Hebrew root, שכן (shakan, to dwell), appears here in “to place his name” and in “that I may dwell.” The chosen place is where God’s name as nature takes up residence among people.
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