What Does Deuteronomy 10:10 Mean in the King James?
And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.
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 LORD’s hearing is the hinge: what could have ended in destruction becomes a future that continues.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks to you in the interval when ruin seems possible: the LORD hears, and destruction does not follow. Hearing reaches into the outcome, leaving room for life after a threatened ending.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the lie that once destruction is threatened, it must be inevitable: here, being heard is followed by restraint.
THE ROOT
וַיִּשְׁמַע
wayyishmaʿ
GROWS FROM
שמע
שָׁמַע (shamaʿ) means hear or listen; here, the hearing is followed by a changed outcome.
English “hearkened” can sound like mere reception, but the verse places hearing beside the LORD’s refusal to destroy. The hearing is not passive acknowledgment: it becomes the hinge between threatened destruction and continued life.
ALSO GROWS
shemuʿah: Report, news, or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch makes hearing concrete: what reaches the ear becomes something received, just as Moses’ appeal reaches the LORD.
hishmiʿa: To cause to hear or make audible.
הִשְׁמִיעַ
This causative form shows the other side of hearing: a voice is made heard, and in this verse that hearing is followed by restraint.
THE PATTERN
When a cry is heard, the outcome can turn away from destruction and toward deliverance.
And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.THE THREAD
For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, wherewith the LORD was wroth against you to destroy you. But the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also.Both verses use וַיִּשְׁמַע (wayyishmaʿ, “and he heard”), from שָׁמַע (shamaʿ, “hear, listen”). Deuteronomy 9:19 names the threat of destruction; 10:10 carries that same hearing into its outcome: “the LORD would not destroy thee.”
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