What Does Deuteronomy 15:4 Mean in the King James?
Save when there shall be no poor among you; for the LORD shall greatly bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance 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
God’s blessing is pictured not as one person’s surplus, but as a community in which no one is left needy.
THE MEANING
The verse holds God’s generosity and the absence of need together: the gift of the land is pictured as a shared life where no one among you is needy. Its measure speaks now, blessing is visible in whether the community’s provision reaches everyone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that prosperity can be measured by one person’s abundance while others remain in need. Here, blessing describes a shared condition.
THE ROOT
בָרֵךְ
bārēkh
GROWS FROM
ברך
b-r-k
To bless; the same root also names the knee.
The Hebrew repeats ברך (b-r-k) in a form that intensifies the promise: “surely bless.” The root’s connection to the knee gives blessing the image of a bent posture; here, the land’s gift is framed alongside a community where no one is left needy.
ALSO GROWS
knee: Knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared root gives blessing a bodily image of bending.
blessing: Blessing
בְּרָכָה
This is the same root in the noun form, linking the promised act of blessing to blessing itself.
THE PATTERN
A community’s abundance is measured by whether its resources meet its members’ needs.
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,But by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality:THE THREAD
For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land.The “needy” named in both verses is אֶבְיוֹן (ʾevyon, needy). Verse 11 holds the vision of verse 4 beside the reality of continuing need, showing the open hand as the living expression of that vision.
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