What Does Deuteronomy 10:17 Mean in the King James?
For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:
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
No face, however high, can be lifted above another before the highest authority, and no reward can bend its judgment.
THE MEANING
The highest authority meets you without favoritism: no face is raised above another, and no reward changes its judgment. Its greatness is inseparable from this evenness; might does not become privilege.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that rank makes someone more worthy of regard, or that a gift can buy the Judge’s favor.
THE ROOT
יִשָּׂא
yissa
GROWS FROM
נשא
nasa
To lift, carry, or bear.
“regardeth” in this verse is yissa. The phrase literally speaks of lifting a face: no person’s face is elevated above another before this authority. The same root gives a title for one elevated to rank, revealing that even high status cannot lift someone above impartial judgment.
ALSO GROWS
nasi: A prince or leader; literally, one elevated.
נָשִׂיא
This branch makes rank visible: even a person elevated to leadership receives no special lift in judgment.
massa: A burden or load carried; also an oracle or burden.
מַשָּׂא
It carries the root’s sense of bearing, while the verse shows that no person’s face is borne upward as a favor.
THE PATTERN
True authority is not swayed by status or gifts; its judgment does not favor one face over another.
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.Wherefore now let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take heed and do it: for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts.Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:THE THREAD
Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.The Hebrew phrase for “respect persons” uses the same image of lifting a face found in Deuteronomy 10:17. Here the verse pairs that lifted face with a gift that distorts judgment, exposing the two ways impartiality is bent.
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