What Does Deuteronomy 11:26 Mean in the King James?
Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
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 blessing carries the posture of a bent knee, while the curse carries the sense of being made light; both are placed before you.
THE MEANING
Today, blessing and curse stand before you as distinct outcomes. The words hold different images: blessing is linked to the knee bending, while curse is linked to being made light or treated as insignificant.
THE ROOT
נֹתֵן
noten
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, place, set.
The verb is also the ordinary word for giving: what stands before you is actively placed in view as a real pair. English can make “set before” sound static, while the root carries the sense of giving or placing.
ALSO GROWS
natan: Give or place.
נָתַן
The same root makes the alternatives something given into view, not an abstract contrast.
mattanah: Gift.
מַתָּנָה
A gift is something given; the shared root links the act of placing before you with the act of giving.
בְּרָכָה
berakhah
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
Bend the knee; bless.
The word for blessing shares its root with the word for knee. That sound and form hold a posture beneath the English word: blessing is connected with a bending of the knee.
ALSO GROWS
berekh: Knee.
בֶּרֶךְ
It shares the root with blessing and reveals the bodily image carried beneath the word.
barakh: Bless or kneel.
בָּרַךְ
The verb carries both the act of blessing and the root’s kneeling association.
קְלָלָה
qelalah
GROWS FROM
קלל
q-l-l
Be light or make light; in a verbal form, curse.
The word translated “curse” grows from a root that can mean to be light or to treat something lightly. Beneath the English label is an image of diminished weight or significance.
ALSO GROWS
qalal: Be light or treat lightly.
קָלַל
This root sense adds the image of something being diminished beneath the word “curse.”
qillel: Curse or revile.
קִלֵּל
This verbal form shares the root with qelalah and connects the curse to making light of or bringing low.
THE PATTERN
Contrasting outcomes are placed in view so the way of life can be recognized.
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.THE THREAD
I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:“Set before” again translates נתן (natan), the root of giving and placing. The later verse makes explicit what this one holds in view: the alternatives call for a real response.
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