What Does Deuteronomy 25:16 Mean?
For all who do these things, and all who act crookedly, are a loathing to the LORD your God.
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
For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.THE KEY
The Hebrew says “doing injustice,” making the practiced act itself what the LORD finds abhorrent.
THE MEANING
Dishonest advantage in ordinary dealings remains visible to the LORD as injustice. The verse names both the conduct and those who practice it as abhorrent to God.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
A small distortion in an everyday exchange is too minor to matter to God.
THE ROOT
עָוֶל
ʿāwel
GROWS FROM
ע־ו־ל
ʿ-w-l
Injustice or wrong; the related verb means to act unjustly.
“crookedly” in this verse is ʿāwel. עָוֶל (ʿāwel, injustice or wrong) follows עֹשֵׂה (ʿōśēh, doing), so the phrase is literally “doing injustice.” English renders the wrong as an adverb, while Hebrew keeps the injustice itself in view as the thing being done.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāwal: To act unjustly or do wrong
עָוַל
This verb makes explicit the action contained in עָוֶל (ʿāwel, injustice): the wrong is enacted.
ʿawlāh: Injustice or wrong
עַוְלָה
This related noun names injustice as a condition, connecting the deed with the wrong it embodies.
תּוֹעֵבָה
tōʿēvāh
GROWS FROM
ת־ע־ב
t-ʿ-b
To abhor or detest; the noun names what is abhorrent.
“loathing” in this verse is tōʿēvāh. תּוֹעֵבָה (tōʿēvāh, an abhorrent thing) grows from תָּעַב (tāʿab, to abhor or detest). The word carries the force of being loathed, giving the verse a sharper edge than simple disapproval.
ALSO GROWS
tāʿab: To abhor or detest
תָּעַב
The verb reveals the force behind the noun: this is conduct the LORD abhors.
tōʿēvōt: Abominations or abhorrent things
תּוֹעֲבוֹת
This plural form shows the same root naming multiple things found abhorrent.
עֹשֵׂה
ʿōśēh
GROWS FROM
ע־שׂ־ה
ʿ-ś-h
To do, make, or carry out.
“do” in this verse is ʿōśēh. The Hebrew repeats עֹשֵׂה (ʿōśēh, doing): “everyone doing these things, everyone doing injustice.” The repeated verb keeps the focus on what is carried out, not only on a hidden attitude.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāśāh: To do, make, or perform
עָשָׂה
This is the verb in the verse, emphasizing injustice as an enacted deed.
maʿăśeh: A deed, work, or action
מַעֲשֶׂה
This related noun names the result of doing, keeping the verse anchored in observable conduct.
THE PATTERN
The LORD treats unfair gain in ordinary dealings as visible injustice, whether it is hidden in false measures or withheld wages.
You shall do no crookedness in judgment, in the rod, in the weighing, or in the measure. Scales and stones of alignment, an ephah and a hin of alignment, you shall have; I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.Scales of deceit are an abomination to the LORD, but a whole stone is his delight.Look, the wages of the workers who mowed your fields, stripped away by your fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have gone into the ears of the LORD of hosts.THE THREAD
He who aligns the wicked, and he who convicts the aligned one, both are loathed by the LORD.This verse uses the same Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (tōʿēvāh, an abhorrent thing) for corrupt judgment. The shared word links dishonest dealings with calling wrong right: both make injustice abhorrent to the LORD.
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