What Does Deuteronomy 1:7 Mean in the King James?

Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.

Deuteronomy 1:7 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew moves from turning toward the route, to setting out, to entering: its destination is a place you move into, not just a point ahead.

THE MEANING

The verse meets you at the threshold of movement: turn, set out, enter. The way ahead runs through plains, hills, valleys, southern ground, and shoreline, so varied terrain belongs to the route. Arrival means crossing into the place named.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The way forward must be one straight, upward climb.

THE ROOT

וּבֹאוּ

u-vo’u

GROWS FROM

בוא

Come, arrive, enter.

“go to” in this verse is u-vo’u. The word rendered “go” carries the sense of coming or entering. The language pictures the route from its destination too: you are not only heading away from where you stand, but moving into the place named.

ALSO GROWS

mavo: Entrance, approach.

מָבוֹא

The destination in the verse is something approached and entered.

bi’ah: Coming, arrival, entry.

בִּיאָה

This branch brings out the arrival contained in the command to go.

וּסְעוּ

u-se’u

GROWS FROM

נסע

Depart, set out, travel.

“take your journey” in this verse is u-se’u. The word behind “journey” points to setting out. Before the many landscapes come into view, the verse names the moment of departure from where you are.

ALSO GROWS

massa: A journey or stage of travel.

מַסָּע

The route is made of successive stretches, not one abstract leap to the destination.

nesi’ah: A trip or journey.

נְסִיעָה

This branch keeps the emphasis on the act of setting out.

פְּנוּ

penu

GROWS FROM

פנה

Turn toward, face, attend to.

The first movement is a change of orientation. The related word for “face” makes the image concrete: before the route begins, the verse names where you turn your face.

ALSO GROWS

panim: Face.

פָּנִים

The face gives turning a direction and an object.

pniyah: A turn or change of direction.

פְּנִיָּה

This branch echoes the verse’s opening movement toward a new route.

THE PATTERN

A route opens when you leave a known place and move through real terrain toward a place to enter.

Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee:

Genesis 12:1 · KJVThe movement begins by leaving familiar ground and continues toward a place not yet seen.

And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation.

Psalm 107:7 · KJVThe route takes shape as movement through a way toward a place to dwell.

And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us.

Acts 16:9 · KJVThe call names a destination and turns it into a crossing to be made.

THE THREAD

Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them.

Deuteronomy 1:8 · KJV

The “go” in both verses comes from ⁨בוא⁩ (bo), meaning “come” or “enter.” Verse 1:7 maps the terrain on the way; verse 1:8 carries the same movement through the threshold into the land.

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