What Does Deuteronomy 20:7 Mean?
And who is the man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go and turn back to his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.
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 what man is there that hath betrothed a wife, and hath not taken her? let him go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.THE KEY
The betrothal already has force before the marriage is complete: death in battle could leave the woman to another man’s taking.
THE MEANING
A pledged bond already carries weight before the man has taken his wife. The danger is stated plainly: he may die in battle, and another man may take her.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a bond matters only once it is completed: betrothal already has consequences, and death can leave the woman open to another man’s taking.
THE ROOT
אֵרַשׂ
ʾērāś
GROWS FROM
ארשׂ
ארשׂ (ʾāraś): to betroth, to pledge in marriage.
The Hebrew names a pledged relation, not the completed act of taking her. The verse places that pledge beside the possibility that another man takes her if the betrothed man dies; the interval before marriage is already consequential.
ALSO GROWS
meʾorāsāh: betrothed woman
מְאֹרָשָׂה
This form uses the same root to name a woman’s betrothed status before she is taken as a wife.
ʾērāśtîkh: I will betroth you
אֵרַשְׂתִּיךְ
Hosea uses the same root for a pledged bond, showing that the relation is declared before its future is complete.
לְקָחָהּ
lᵊqāḥāh
GROWS FROM
לקח
לקח (lāqaḥ): to take, receive.
The same verb stands in both halves of the verse: the man has not taken her, and another man may take her. Its repetition makes the danger concrete, the first bond is pledged, but death may leave the woman to another man’s taking.
ALSO GROWS
lāqaḥtî: I took
לָקַחְתִּי
This form carries all three root consonants and shows the verb in another person, with taking stated as a completed act.
leqaḥ: learning, instruction
לֶקַח
This noun shares the root consonants and names what is received as instruction; here the same root carries the concrete consequence of taking a wife.
THE PATTERN
A pledged bond changes what is at stake before the union is complete.
When a man takes a new wife, he does not go out to war, and no matter passes over him. He is free at home one year, and he gladdens the wife he has taken.Now the birth of Jesus, the anointed one, was in this way. His mother Mary was pledged to Joseph, and before they came together, she was found carrying in her womb from the Set-Apart Breath.And I will betroth you to me for the ages. Yes, I will betroth you to me in alignment, and in judgment, and in faithful love, and in compassion.THE THREAD
And I will betroth you to me for the ages. Yes, I will betroth you to me in alignment, and in judgment, and in faithful love, and in compassion.Both passages hinge on the Hebrew verb אֵרַשׂ (ʾērāś, to betroth), a pledged bond that exists before the union is complete. Hosea speaks that pledge as enduring; Deuteronomy makes the danger inside the unfinished interval explicit: death can leave the woman to another man’s taking.
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