What Does Deuteronomy 27:1 Mean?
And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Guard all the commandments which I command you this day.
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 Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day.THE KEY
The whole instruction is an entrusted charge to guard today, not merely a word to hear and leave behind.
THE MEANING
You are among the people addressed: the whole instruction is entrusted to your care today. Its keeping is active watchfulness over what is given, and the charge comes through Moses with the elders as a shared voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that instruction is only heard once and left behind; here the whole charge remains in your care today.
THE ROOT
שָׁמֹר
shamor
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
sh-m-r
To guard, watch over, preserve.
“Guard” in this verse is shamor. The Hebrew word carries the sense of guarding and watching over what has been entrusted. Keeping the whole instruction is ongoing attention to it, not simply retaining words.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, guardian, watchman.
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper watches over something entrusted to their care, illuminating the attentiveness in “keep.”
mishmeret: Guard duty, charge, watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The branch names keeping as a continuing responsibility, matching the instruction’s place as a whole charge.
הַמִּצְוָה
hammitzvah
GROWS FROM
צוה
ts-w-h
To command, charge, or appoint.
The word for “commandments” shares its root with the verse’s “commanded.” The whole charge is gathered into one instruction, tied to the act of giving it.
ALSO GROWS
tsivvah: He commanded or charged.
צִוָּה
This is the same root heard in the verse’s opening command, joining the charge to what is to be guarded.
metzavveh: One who commands or is commanding.
מְצַוֶּה
This form echoes the verse’s “which I command you,” linking the instruction to the voice that entrusts it.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משׁה
m-sh-h
To draw out; the name carries the sense of one drawn out.
Moses’ name carries the image of being drawn out. Here the one drawn out stands with the elders to voice a charge entrusted to the whole people.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
The verb gives the name its drawn-out image, adding a movement of emergence to the speaker’s name.
Mosheh: Moses; the one drawn out.
מֹשֶׁה
The name brings that image into the verse as the charge is spoken to the people.
THE PATTERN
Instruction remains alive through attentive keeping, as a whole charge entrusted to those who receive it.
You command us to guard your appointments with full force.Grip the straightening; do not let it drop. Guard it, for it is your life.If you love me, guard my instructions.THE THREAD
You command us to guard your appointments with full force.Both verses use the Hebrew root שׁמר (shamar), “to guard, watch over, preserve,” for keeping what is commanded. The shared root reveals keeping as attentive custody of the instruction, carried beyond the moment it is spoken.
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