What Does Deuteronomy 20:1 Mean?
When you go out to battle against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots, and a people more than you, do not fear them, for the LORD your God is with you, who lifted you up out of the land of Egypt.
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
When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.THE KEY
The God beside you in the face of a larger force is the same God who already lifted you out of constriction.
THE MEANING
You see the horses, chariots, and greater numbers, and the LORD your God is with you now, the one who brought you up from Egypt’s constriction. The verse holds present danger and remembered deliverance together in one field of sight.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
If the force against you is greater, you have been abandoned and the outcome already belongs to them.
THE ROOT
הַמַּעַלְךָ
hamma'alekha
GROWS FROM
עלה
Ascend; go up.
“lifted you up” in this verse is hamma'alekha. The verse names the exodus as an ascent out of narrowing. The one with you now is the one who has already lifted you out.
ALSO GROWS
ʿalah: to ascend, go up
עָלָה
The verb behind “brought thee up” makes deliverance an upward movement.
aliyah: ascent, going up
עֲלִיָּה
This branch keeps the verse’s image of being lifted into view.
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צרר
Bind, press in, make narrow.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. The name Mitzrayim is read through tzar, “narrowness,” as the two narrows. The verse places the present threat beside the remembered ascent out of narrowing, making that deliverance part of what the reader sees now.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: narrow, tight
צַר
This branch gives the constriction image carried by the name.
tsarah: distress, trouble
צָרָה
Distress is the lived pressure of being pressed into a narrow place.
meitzar: a narrow place, strait
מֵצַר
This branch makes the narrow-place reading of Mitzrayim visible.
תִּירָא
tira
GROWS FROM
ירא
Fear; stand in awe.
“do not fear” in this verse is tira. Here the fear is directed toward enemies, whose horses, chariots, and numbers remain plainly visible. The verse places that fear alongside the presence of the one who brought the reader up from Egypt.
ALSO GROWS
yir'ah: fear, awe
יִרְאָה
This noun carries the same root into the experience named by “afraid.”
nora: fearsome, awe-inspiring
נוֹרָא
This form shows the root’s range when the one regarded is awe-inspiring.
THE PATTERN
The presence of God meets visible threats with a larger ground for courage.
Did I not command you? Hold fast and be firm. Do not tremble, and do not be shattered, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not look about in dismay, for I am your God. I will grip you, and I will help you, and I will hold you up with the right hand of my alignment.So that we may boldly say, The LORD is my helper, and I will not fear. What will a human do to me?THE THREAD
He lifts me out of a roaring pit, out of the clinging mud, and sets my feet on rock, and sets my steps firm.“Brought me up” uses the same root, עלה, as “brought thee up.” The ascent from Egypt appears here as a personal lifting from the pit, followed by feet set on a rock and steps made firm.
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