What Does Deuteronomy 1:4 Mean in the King James?
After he had slain Sihon the king of the Amorites, which dwelt in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, which dwelt at Astaroth in Edrei:
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 instruction that follows begins on the far side of the blow that brings the occupying powers down.
THE MEANING
You stand on the far side of what occupied the ground: the kings are already struck down. The next verse begins Moses’ instruction from this threshold, where their rule no longer holds the scene.
THE ROOT
הַכֹּתוֹ
hakkoto
GROWS FROM
נכה
N-K-H
To strike or smite; in this form, to strike down.
“slain” in this verse is hakkoto. The Hebrew carries the force of a blow as well as the result of death. This strike marks the moment before the instruction that follows, joining the end of a ruler’s power to the beginning of a new hearing.
ALSO GROWS
nakah: To strike or smite.
נָכָה
It is the verb-root beneath “slain,” keeping the blow itself visible in the verse.
makkah: A blow or plague.
מַכָּה
This noun from the same root shows how the language can name both the striking and what the strike brings.
יֹשֵׁב
yoshev
GROWS FROM
ישב
Y-Sh-B
To sit, remain, or dwell.
“dwelt” in this verse is yoshev. The verse describes the kings as settled in places, not as distant or abstract threats. The strike falls on rulers with an established seat and hold on the ground.
ALSO GROWS
yashav: To sit or dwell.
יָשַׁב
This verb shares the root of “dwelt” and carries both the posture of sitting and the condition of inhabiting a place.
moshav: A dwelling, seat, or settlement.
מוֹשָׁב
This branch makes the settled nature of the kings’ rule tangible: they occupy a place and have a seat there.
THE PATTERN
A new movement into freedom or instruction begins after the power holding the ground is broken.
On this side Jordan, in the land of Moab, began Moses to declare this law, saying,Thus the LORD saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;THE THREAD
And the LORD our God delivered him before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people.The same root נכה (nakah, “strike”) lies beneath “slain” here and “smote” there. The linked verse spells out the force compressed into the first: the blow falls on the king, his sons, and all his people.
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