What Does Deuteronomy 11:21 Mean in the King James?
That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth.
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 promise gathers your days and your children’s days into one shared life, so that increase reaches beyond a single lifespan.
THE MEANING
Your days and your children’s days are held together in the promise of a land given as a gift. Their span is pictured as vast as the days of heaven upon the earth.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Your life is measured only by the years you personally live.
THE ROOT
יִרְבּוּ
yirbu
GROWS FROM
רָבָה
To become many; to increase.
“multiplied” in this verse is yirbu. יִרְבּוּ comes from רָבָה (rābâ, “to become many, increase”). The verse pictures increase reaching both your days and your children’s days, joining duration with life carried forward through generations.
ALSO GROWS
harbeh: Much; many; abundantly.
הַרְבֵּה
This form from רָבָה carries the sense of abundance, opening “multiplied” to a broader image of days becoming plentiful.
marbeh: Increasing; making many.
מַרְבֶּה
This form from רָבָה describes increase in motion, echoing the verse’s picture of days extending through parents and children.
THE PATTERN
Life is pictured as an increase that reaches beyond one generation and takes place on the earth.
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;Yea, thou shalt see thy children’s children, and peace upon Israel.Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.THE THREAD
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;Both verses use רָבָה (rābâ, “to become many, increase”): Genesis pictures the seed multiplying, while Deuteronomy pictures the days of parents and children increasing. The stars of heaven there and the days of heaven here give the shared increase a vast horizon.
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