What Does Deuteronomy 13:14 Mean in the King James?
Then shalt thou enquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought among you;
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
Here, truth is not the first account that sounds certain; it is what stands after seeking, searching, and careful questioning.
THE MEANING
An alarming charge does not become truth simply because it names something abominable. The matter remains open to inquiry, investigation, and careful questioning until it is shown to be true and established among you. Only then does the verse name what is happening within the community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this verse dissolves is that a disturbing accusation proves itself just by being disturbing.
THE ROOT
אֱמֶת
emet
GROWS FROM
אָמַן
ʾ-m-n
Be firm, reliable, or confirmed.
The verse pairs emet with נָכוֹן (nakhon, established), doubling the language of firmness. Truth here is what inquiry confirms and what stands, not merely what is alleged.
ALSO GROWS
emunah: Steadfast trust; reliability.
אֱמוּנָה
It shares the root’s sense of firmness, showing that truth carries the quality of what can be relied upon.
amen: Surely; affirmed as firm.
אָמֵן
Amen echoes the same root of firmness, an affirmation that what is said stands.
וְחָקַרְתָּ
veḥaqarta
GROWS FROM
חקר
ḥ-q-r
Search out, examine, investigate.
“make search” in this verse is veḥaqarta. This verb names active examination between seeking and asking; the claim is tested rather than accepted at face value. The same root appears in Proverbs 18:17, where a neighbor investigates the first account.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēqer: Inquiry or examination.
חֵקֶר
This noun makes explicit the work carried by the verse’s command to search.
ḥōqēr: One who examines or searches.
חֹקֵר
The branch names the one doing the searching, emphasizing that certainty comes through examination.
נָכוֹן
nakhon
GROWS FROM
כון
k-w-n
Be firm, become established, stand prepared.
The word translated “certain” carries the sense of being established. Beside emet, it makes the result of the inquiry something that stands, not mere confidence.
ALSO GROWS
hekin: To make ready or set in place.
הֵכִין
It shows the root’s movement from something unsettled toward something established.
makhon: A settled place or base.
מָכוֹן
Its sense of a stable foundation illuminates the verse’s demand that the matter be established.
THE PATTERN
A claim becomes established truth through examination that can test its first appearance.
He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.THE THREAD
He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.“Searcheth” translates חָקַר (chaqar), the same root as “make search” here. The shared root makes investigation the hinge between an account that seems right and a matter that is established.
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