What Does Deuteronomy 6:15 Mean?
For the LORD your God is a jealous God among you, lest the burning of the LORD your God's anger flare against you, and wipe you from the face of the ground.
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 the LORD thy God is a jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD thy God be kindled against thee, and destroy thee from off the face of the earth.THE KEY
The verse makes the LORD’s nearness the hinge between relationship and destruction: the one who is among you claims allegiance with a force that can become destructive.
THE MEANING
The verse places you inside a living claim: the LORD is among you, yet that nearness does not make divided allegiance harmless. Jealousy becomes anger, and the stated outcome is destruction from the face of the earth. The threat remains severe; the verse does not soften it into mere correction.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that divine closeness makes divided allegiance harmless: the verse binds the LORD’s nearness to an exclusive claim and the possibility of destruction.
THE ROOT
בְּקִרְבֶּךָ
bəqirbekha
GROWS FROM
קרב
Approach, come near; the related noun can mean the inner part or midst.
The Hebrew form behind “among you” is built on קֶרֶב (qerev, midst or inner part), from קרב (qarav, approach or come near). It places the LORD in the community’s midst; the same root also carries the sense of drawing near, giving that proximity relational weight.
ALSO GROWS
qerev: Inner part, midst
קֶרֶב
This noun shares the root consonants and gives “among you” its sense of being in the midst.
qarav: Approach, draw near
קָרַב
The verb shows the movement toward closeness carried by the root behind the LORD’s presence among the people.
qorbān: Drawing near
קָרְבָּן
This branch shares the root consonants and extends the idea of nearness into an act of approach.
קַנָּא
qannāʾ
GROWS FROM
קנא
Be zealous or jealous; hold an intense claim.
קַנָּא (qannāʾ, jealous or zealous) holds jealousy and zeal together, naming an intense claim rather than a passing irritation. The LORD is described as among the people just before anger and destruction, so the threatened judgment grows from that claimed relationship.
ALSO GROWS
qinʾāh: Jealousy, zeal
קִנְאָה
This noun shares the root קנא and shows the same intensity as a quality or force.
qinnēʾ: Be jealous, be zealous
קִנֵּא
This verb shares the root consonants and makes the jealousy an active response.
וְהִשְׁמִידְךָ
vehishmîdkha
GROWS FROM
שמד
Destroy, bring to ruin.
“wipe” in this verse is vehishmîdkha. The verb is a causative form of שמד (shamad, destroy or bring to ruin), placing agency in the threat: the hearer is brought to destruction. “From off the face of the earth” gives that destruction its total extent.
ALSO GROWS
lehashmîd: To destroy
לְהַשְׁמִיד
This infinitive shares the root consonants and carries the same causative force of bringing something to destruction.
hiššāmēd: Be destroyed, perish
הִשָּׁמֵד
This form shares the root consonants but places the subject on the receiving end of destruction, clarifying the fate threatened here.
THE PATTERN
Nearness to the LORD carries a claim of exclusive allegiance, and divided devotion is portrayed as provoking real judgment.
For you shall not bow down to another god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a set-apart God; he is a jealous God; he will not release your rebellion, nor your shortcomings.Or do we stir the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?THE THREAD
For you shall not bow down to another god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.The Hebrew קַנָּא (qannāʾ, jealous or zealous) in Exodus and Deuteronomy comes from the same root, קנא. Exodus names the LORD “Jealous,” showing that Deuteronomy’s threat arises from the same stated claim, not an unrelated flare of anger.
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