What Does Deuteronomy 11:8 Mean in the King James?
Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;
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 verse joins strength to guarding the whole instruction, while its word for possessing also holds inheritance and dispossession together.
THE MEANING
The instruction before you is something to guard whole; keeping it gathers strength for going in and taking possession. The land is a concrete inheritance, and the word for possessing also carries the sense of dispossessing, so the promise includes a material claim to territory.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that you must already be strong before you can enter: here, strength is linked to keeping the instruction as you move toward possession.
THE ROOT
שָׁמַר
šāmar
GROWS FROM
שׁ־מ־ר
š-m-r
Guard, watch over, keep.
The verse uses וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם (ûšĕmartem), “you shall keep or guard.” The same root names watching and an entrusted charge, so keeping the instruction means holding it in attentive care, not merely recalling a rule.
ALSO GROWS
šōmēr: A watcher or keeper.
שֹׁמֵר
The watcher stays alert to what is entrusted; the instruction is guarded through sustained attention.
mišmeret: A charge, guard duty, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch makes keeping a responsibility to watch over, connecting the command to the strength that follows.
תֶּחֶזְקוּ
teḥezqû
GROWS FROM
ח־ז־ק
ḥ-z-q
Be firm, be strong, hold fast.
The phrase “that ye may be strong” uses תֶּחֶזְקוּ (teḥezqû), from חזק (ḥ-z-q), which carries firmness and holding fast. The verse places this firmness alongside guarding the instruction, presenting strength as bound to what is held and kept.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāzāq: Strong or firm.
חָזָק
This is the quality the verse names as necessary for going in.
ḥizzēq: Strengthen or make firm.
חִזֵּק
This branch shows strength as something made firm, echoing the verse’s link between keeping the instruction and becoming able to enter.
וִירִשְׁתֶּם
wîrištēm
GROWS FROM
י־ר־שׁ
y-r-š
Inherit, take possession, or dispossess.
The verse’s “possess” comes from ירשׁ (y-r-š), a root that can describe receiving an inheritance and dispossessing another. The word holds both sides of taking territory: what becomes one’s possession and what is displaced.
ALSO GROWS
yōrēš: An heir or one who takes possession.
יוֹרֵשׁ
This branch brings inheritance into the sense of possessing the land.
mōrāšāh: An inheritance or possession.
מוֹרָשָׁה
The land is named as something received and held, not merely passed through.
hôrîš: Dispossess or drive out.
הוֹרִישׁ
This branch preserves the force of the territorial claim that the English word “possess” can leave unstated.
THE PATTERN
Guarded instruction gathers strength for entry, while continuing to enact it gives that movement footing.
Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:THE THREAD
Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.Joshua pairs חזק (ḥ-z-q), “be firm or strong,” with שמר (š-m-r), “guard or keep,” the same roots joined in Deuteronomy. The repeated pairing reveals strength and careful keeping as parts of one movement toward entering the land.
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