What Does Deuteronomy 1:14 Mean in the King James?
And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew calls what was spoken a “thing,” so the word’s goodness is already leaning toward its doing.
THE MEANING
You recognize the value of a spoken word when it becomes something you can do together. Agreement takes the shape of action: the word is good for you to do, not only pleasant to hear.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that verbal agreement completes the matter: calling a word good points toward carrying it out.
THE ROOT
דָּבָר
davar
GROWS FROM
ד־ב־ר
to speak, utter
Davar can mean both “word” and “matter” or “thing.” The spoken proposal is not treated as an abstraction: it is already a matter with a direction, “for us to do.”
ALSO GROWS
dibber: spoke
דִּבֵּר
The verse uses this form for what was spoken; it shares its root with davar, the “thing” received for action.
devarim: words, matters
דְּבָרִים
This plural preserves the same overlap between what is said and what is at hand to be dealt with.
עָשָׂה
asah
GROWS FROM
ע־שׂ־ה
to do, make
The verb “to do” belongs to the same family as words for a deed or work. The verse makes the movement plain: a spoken matter becomes tangible through action.
ALSO GROWS
ma'aseh: deed, work
מַעֲשֶׂה
It names the action that makes the verse’s spoken matter concrete.
asuy: made, done
עָשׂוּי
It describes what has taken form through doing, the direction of the people’s reply.
THE PATTERN
A word’s goodness becomes tangible when it is received as shared action.
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.In Deuteronomy, davar is both the spoken instruction and the “thing” received for action. Psalm 33:6 uses the same root for the LORD’s word through which the heavens are made, extending the link from a word enacted together to creation itself.
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