What Does Deuteronomy 12:32 Mean in the King James?
What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from 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
To “observe” the command is to guard it by doing it, with neither addition nor subtraction.
THE MEANING
You meet the command as a whole, and its keeping takes shape in doing. Its boundaries remain intact: nothing is added to widen it, and nothing is cut away to thin it.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that the word becomes more faithful when you improve it, or more manageable when you remove what no longer fits.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמְרוּ
tishmeru
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To watch over, guard, or keep.
The word translated “observe” carries the sense of guarding or keeping. The command is guarded through doing; the verse’s boundary against adding or diminishing also protects its full shape.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: keeper, guard
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper protects what has been entrusted to them, showing the active care contained in “observe.”
mishmeret: guard, watch, charge
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
A charge is something held in care; the word links keeping the command with preserving what is entrusted.
THE PATTERN
A received word stays whole when it is guarded in practice without being enlarged or reduced.
Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:THE THREAD
Thou hast commanded us to keep thy precepts diligently.The Hebrew “keep” here comes from שמר (shamar), the same root as “observe” in Deuteronomy 12:32. The shared root reveals keeping as active care: the command is held in care as it is done.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us