What Does Deuteronomy 10:11 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.
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 word for “possess” also means “inherit,” holding the people’s entry into the land inside the promise already sworn to give it.
THE MEANING
A promise can be real while the promised place is still ahead. This verse speaks into that interval now: what is pledged is not absent just because it is not yet inhabited; the journey is part of its arrival.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that a promise is absent until it is fully possessed: the land is already pledged while the journey still lies ahead.
THE ROOT
וְיִירְשׁוּ
weyirshu
GROWS FROM
ירשׁ
y-r-sh
Take possession, inherit; in some forms, dispossess or drive out.
“possess” in this verse is weyirshu. This root holds inheritance and taking possession together, and it can also carry the harder sense of dispossessing. The promised inheritance is something the people enter and occupy; the word keeps the force of possession visible.
ALSO GROWS
morashah: Heritage, inherited possession
מוֹרָשָׁה
This branch names what is handed down as a heritage, joining the promised land to inheritance.
horish: Dispossess, drive out; cause to inherit
הוֹרִישׁ
The same root can describe displacement as well as inheritance, giving “possess” a force beyond private ownership.
לָתֵת
latet
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
The verb behind “give” also carries the sense of setting or placing. The land is spoken of as a gift set before the people as a real destination, and the next movement is toward it.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give, set, place
נָתַן
This form holds together giving and placing, so the land is presented as something set before the people to enter.
mattanah: Gift, present
מַתָּנָה
This noun from the same root makes the gift-language explicit: the land is pledged as something received.
לְמַסַּע
le-massaʿ
GROWS FROM
נסע
n-s-ʿ
Pull up, set out, depart on a journey.
“journey” in this verse is le-massaʿ. This root describes setting out from a camp as well as traveling. The movement is concrete and staged: Moses goes ahead while the people travel toward what has been pledged.
ALSO GROWS
nasaʿ: Set out, travel, depart from camp
נָסַע
The root’s sense of setting out shows that the people are moving from where they are toward the promised land.
massaʿ: Journey, stage of travel
מַסָּע
This is the journey-word in the verse, making the route itself part of the promised arrival.
THE PATTERN
A promised gift becomes lived inheritance as people enter the place set before them.
And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.Pass through the host, and command the people, saying, Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the LORD your God giveth you to possess it.For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.THE THREAD
And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.The Hebrew behind “inherit” comes from the same root as “possess” in Deuteronomy 10:11. The land is given and inherited within one sentence: the root holds receiving and taking possession together.
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