What Does Deuteronomy 4:29 Mean?
But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him, if you seek him with all your heart and with all your living soul.
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
But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.THE KEY
Finding begins “from thence,” as the whole living self turns toward God.
THE MEANING
From where you are, you can seek the LORD your God and find him. This seeking gathers your whole heart and your whole living soul; it involves your inner direction and your entire living self.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must first escape your present place before God can be found dissolves here: the verse begins “from thence.”
THE ROOT
וּבִקַּשְׁתֶּם
u-biqqashtem
GROWS FROM
בקש
b-q-sh
To seek out, look for, or request.
The first “seek” carries the sense of searching or asking for what is wanted. The verse then uses another root for its second “seek,” opening a further shade beneath the repeated English word.
ALSO GROWS
biqqesh: He sought or asked for.
בִּקֵּשׁ
This is the seeking that begins the movement toward finding.
mevaqqesh: One who seeks or requests.
מְבַקֵּשׁ
The root can describe the seeker as well as the act of seeking.
תִּדְרְשֶׁנּוּ
tidreshennu
GROWS FROM
דרש
d-r-sh
To seek, inquire after, or resort to.
“seek him” in this verse is tidreshennu. The second “seek” uses a different root, one that also carries the sense of inquiry. The verse brings searching and inquiry together, then locates that pursuit in the whole heart and soul.
ALSO GROWS
darash: To seek or inquire.
דָּרַשׁ
This is the root of the verse’s second call to seek God.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
The branch preserves the root’s sense of seeking into something.
נַפְשְׁךָ
nafshekha
GROWS FROM
נפש
n-p-sh
The living self or person, including life and appetite.
“living soul” in this verse is nafshekha. The word rendered “soul” names the living self, not a detachable inner fragment: it can speak of a person, a life, or an appetite. “All thy soul” gathers the whole living and desiring self into the seeking.
ALSO GROWS
nefesh: Living soul, self, or person.
נֶפֶשׁ
It gives “soul” the sense of the whole living person seeking God.
nafash: To rest or be refreshed.
נָפַשׁ
This related verb shows another branch of the root’s language of lived existence.
nafsho: His self or life.
נַפְשׁוֹ
The same word can name the life of the person, not just an inner part.
THE PATTERN
Scripture presents seeking God as an open movement toward finding, with the whole self engaged.
Flourishing are those who guard his testimonies, who seek him with the whole heart.And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.THE THREAD
And you will seek me and find me, when you search for me with all your heart.Jeremiah uses the same Hebrew roots for “seek,” “find,” and “seek after” as Deuteronomy does, and again ties finding to the whole heart. The parallel makes “from thence” a real starting place: finding opens where you are as the whole self seeks.
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