What Does Deuteronomy 7:16 Mean?
You shall devour all the peoples the LORD your God will give you. Your eye shall not spare them, and you shall not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.
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 thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that will be a snare unto thee.THE KEY
The word translated “consume” is the ordinary verb “eat,” making whole peoples the object of ingestion while the verse forbids pity for them.
THE MEANING
You face a command to consume whole peoples whom God gives to you, with no pity. It calls service to their gods a snare, binding mass violence and rejection of rival worship in one order.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the assumption that scriptural commands are always gentle: here, the text forbids pity while commanding the consumption of whole peoples.
THE ROOT
וְאָכַלְתָּ
veʾakhaltā
GROWS FROM
אכל
ʾ-k-l
eat, consume
“devour” in this verse is veʾakhaltā. The verb translated “consume” is the ordinary Hebrew verb “eat,” and its object is “all the peoples.” Related food nouns preserve the same root, so the verse voices this violence as ingestion, not simply victory.
ALSO GROWS
ʾokhel: food
אֹכֶל
This noun carries the same eat/consume root, sharpening the force of making peoples the object of consumption.
maʾakhal: food, foodstuff
מַאֲכָל
This branch keeps the eating image visible beneath the verse’s English wording.
נֹתֵן
nōtēn
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
give, set, place
Under “deliver” is the verb of giving or placing: the peoples are also framed as what God gives to you. Beside “eat,” that root holds transfer and consumption together in one sentence.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, place
נָתַן
This verb names the giving carried by the clause about the peoples God places in your hand.
mattanah: gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This noun shares the root and makes the clause’s sense of transfer visible.
תַעֲבֹד
taʿavod
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
serve, work
The verb translated “serve” shares its root with “servant” and “service/work.” The verse frames devotion to the rival gods as entering their service, which it names as a snare.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant, slave
עֶבֶד
This noun shows the bond implicit in the act of serving.
ʿavodah: service, work
עֲבוֹדָה
This branch links service to the ongoing work or labor one gives to a master.
THE PATTERN
What receives your service can become the trap that holds you.
They shall not settle in your land, lest they make you miss the mark against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.Therefore I also said, I will not drive them out from your faces. But they shall be thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.Do you not know that to the one you set yourselves beside as servants for hearing and response, his servants you are, the one you hear and respond to; whether of falling short unto death, or of hearing and response unto alignment?THE THREAD
They shall not settle in your land, lest they make you miss the mark against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.The same Hebrew root עבד (ʿ-b-d, “serve”) appears in both verses, and Exodus makes the consequence explicit: serving their gods is a snare. The shared verb exposes the mechanism in Deuteronomy, the trap is entered through service.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us