What Does Deuteronomy 23:23 Mean?
What has gone out of your lips you shall guard and do, even a willing offering, according as you have vowed to the LORD your God, which you have spoken with your mouth.
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
That which is gone out of thy lips thou shalt keep and perform; even a freewill offering, according as thou hast vowed unto the LORD thy God, which thou hast promised with thy mouth.THE KEY
A word spoken before God is already on its way from the mouth into the hands.
THE MEANING
What comes from your mouth in the name of God stands in your life as something to guard and carry into action. The offering is free in its origin, yet a vow gives that willingness a concrete shape: what you speak becomes something you do.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that a promise can remain spiritually meaningful while its fulfillment is optional.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמֹר
tishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
To guard, watch over, or keep.
“Keep” carries the guarding sense of שָׁמַר (shamar, to guard or watch): the spoken vow remains entrusted to care until it is done. Paired with וְעָשִׂיתָ (ve’asita, and you shall do), the verse moves from guarded word to deed.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Watchman; one who guards.
שֹׁמֵר
The same root makes keeping an active watch over what has been spoken.
mishmeret: Charge or guard duty.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A vow is held as a charge to be carried through, not left as a passing utterance.
שְׂפָתֶיךָ
sefateikha
GROWS FROM
שפה
Lip or edge; also language.
“lips” in this verse is sefateikha. שָׂפָה (safah) names both a lip and an edge, and also language. The vow leaves inward intention at the mouth’s boundary and enters the realm of what can be guarded and done.
ALSO GROWS
safah: Lip; language.
שָׂפָה
The same word connects the physical lips with the speech that comes through them.
sefat hayam: Shore or edge of the sea.
שְׂפַת הַיָּם
The word for lips can also name an edge, illuminating speech as a threshold from intention into the shared world.
נְדָבָה
nedavah
GROWS FROM
נדב
To be willing or to give freely.
“willing offering” in this verse is nedavah. נְדָבָה (nedavah, freewill offering) belongs to נדב (nadav, to be willing or give freely). Its voluntary character is the origin of the gift; once spoken as a vow, that willingness takes a definite form and is carried out.
ALSO GROWS
nadiv: Willing or generous; noble.
נָדִיב
This branch locates the offering’s freedom in the giver’s willingness.
hitnadev: To volunteer or offer oneself freely.
הִתְנַדֵּב
The root holds the movement from willingness into a freely given act.
THE PATTERN
Words spoken as a vow carry an obligation that reaches its completion in action.
If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind a binding upon his living soul, he does not pierce his word; he does according to all that goes out of his mouth.When you vow a vow to God, do not linger to make it whole. For there is no delight in the thick-headed. Make whole what you have vowed.But let your word be, Yes, yes; No, no. For whatever is more than these comes from evil.THE THREAD
When you vow a vow to God, do not linger to make it whole. For there is no delight in the thick-headed. Make whole what you have vowed.Both verses use נדר (nadar, to vow). Ecclesiastes names the vow’s fulfillment; Deuteronomy shows its movement from what is spoken by the mouth to what is kept and done.
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