What Does Deuteronomy 13:13 Mean in the King James?
Certain men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye have not known;
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
A voice does not merely propose another belief; it can drive a whole city into a new service.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to you about a voice rising from within your own community and drawing people away from what they know. Its pull reaches beyond private belief: a whole city’s service turns toward unfamiliar gods.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that persuasion changes only private thoughts: here, it redirects a city’s shared allegiance and service.
THE ROOT
וַיַּדִּיחוּ
wayyaddichu
GROWS FROM
נדח
To push or drive away, thrust out, or banish.
“have withdrawn” in this verse is wayyaddichu. The root holds both persuasion and displacement: the people are drawn away, and the community is driven from its familiar allegiance. English “withdrawn” carries that movement, while the Hebrew root makes the force of being driven away more visible.
ALSO GROWS
hiddiach: To cause to stray, entice away, or thrust aside.
הִדִּיחַ
This form appears in Deuteronomy 13:5 for turning someone out of the commanded way, showing the path beneath the persuasion.
niddach: One driven out or banished.
נִדָּח
Deuteronomy 30:4 uses this form for the one driven out, connecting the voice that leads people away with the displacement that follows.
נַעַבְדָה
na'avdah
GROWS FROM
עבד
To work, labor, or serve.
“serve” in this verse is na'avdah. The invitation reaches beyond what people say they believe: this root also names work and the servant. Service here is an allegiance that claims the direction of a life.
ALSO GROWS
avad: To work or serve.
עָבַד
This verb carries both labor and service, showing the whole-life reach of the invitation.
eved: A servant or worker.
עֶבֶד
The noun shares the root, connecting the act of serving with the role a person takes on.
יְדַעְתֶּם
yedatem
GROWS FROM
ידע
To know, recognize, or perceive.
“have known” in this verse is yedatem. The phrase marks these gods as outside what the people know and recognize. The movement is from familiar allegiance toward service of what is unfamiliar.
ALSO GROWS
yada: To know, recognize, or perceive.
יָדַע
This is the base verb behind “which ye have not known,” linking the contrast to recognition and knowing.
de'ah: Knowledge or understanding.
דֵּעָה
This noun grows from the same root, showing how knowing and what is known share the same word-family.
THE PATTERN
A voice is revealed by the allegiance it draws people toward and the service that follows.
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.THE THREAD
If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch thee:The Hebrew verb behind “have withdrawn,” וַיַּדִּיחוּ (wayyaddichu), comes from נדח (nadach), “drive away, thrust out”; Deuteronomy 30:4 uses the same root for the one “driven out.” The root shows the movement from both sides: a voice driving people away, and the scattered person whom God gathers.
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