What Does Deuteronomy 13:4 Mean in the King James?
Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.
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 six commands trace one bond from the direction of your feet to the voice you answer and the one you stay joined to.
THE MEANING
Your devotion takes shape as a direction: you follow the LORD, hold him in awe, guard his commandments, hear and respond to his voice, serve him, and remain joined to him. The verse binds inner regard and outward practice into one lived relationship.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the idea that devotion is only an inward feeling: here allegiance takes shape in the path followed, the instruction guarded, the voice answered, and the bond maintained.
THE ROOT
תִּשְׁמָעוּן
tishma'un
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear, listen, attend; here, hear and respond.
“obey” in this verse is tishma'un. The Hebrew says, literally, to hear his voice; the response is carried inside the act of hearing. English separates listening from obeying, while this root binds receiving the voice to answering it.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear; attend and respond.
שְׁמַע
This imperative from the same root shows hearing as an active orientation, not merely sound reaching the ear.
shemuah: A report or something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch preserves the root’s sense of receiving a voice or message; in the verse, what is heard shapes the direction of allegiance.
תִּשְׁמֹרוּ
tishmeru
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
Watch, guard, keep, preserve.
“keep” in this verse is tishmeru. The verse’s keeping is also watchfulness: the commandments are something guarded and attended to. The same root connects observance with the work of a watchman, revealing protection within the act of keeping.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: A guard or watcher; one who keeps watch.
שֹׁמֵר
Psalm 121:4 uses this form for the one who keeps Israel, showing the root’s watchful, protective sense.
mishmeret: A charge, guard duty, or observance.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch names an entrusted watch, illuminating commandment-keeping as guarding what has been given.
תִּדְבָּקוּן
tidbaqun
GROWS FROM
דבק
d-b-q
Cling, adhere, hold fast.
To cleave is to stay attached, not simply to feel close. The root also describes enduring bonds between people, so the verse ends with a relationship held fast in practice.
ALSO GROWS
vedavaq: And he shall cling or cleave.
וְדָבַק
Genesis 2:24 uses this root for a lasting bond between husband and wife, showing that cleaving means durable attachment.
davqah: She clung or held fast.
דָּבְקָה
Ruth 1:14 uses this form when Ruth stays with Naomi, presenting attachment as enacted loyalty.
THE PATTERN
Allegiance becomes whole through a direction that hears, guards, and remains attached.
With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.THE THREAD
That thou mayest love the LORD thy God, and that thou mayest obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days: that thou mayest dwell in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.The same root דבק (dabaq, “cling or adhere”) appears in both verses. Here, cleaving is tied directly to life itself, opening the image of attachment as a bond with what sustains life.
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