What Does Deuteronomy 16:11 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are among you, in the place which the LORD thy God hath chosen to place his name there.
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 name dwells where the joy gathers the household, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow together.
THE MEANING
The joy in this verse takes place in company: family, servants, the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow all rejoice before God together. The chosen place is where God’s name, his nature, dwells, in a gathering wide enough to include those whose place in the community can be overlooked.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
God is present chiefly in celebrations reserved for the secure insiders, while the stranger and vulnerable remain outside. This verse places them within the shared rejoicing before him.
THE ROOT
לְשַׁכֵּן
leshakken
GROWS FROM
שכן
Dwell, settle, reside; in this form, cause to dwell.
“to place his name there” in this verse is leshakken. The Hebrew speaks of the LORD choosing a place to make his name dwell there. שֵׁם (shem, name as nature) is not merely a label: God’s nature takes up residence in the place where this whole community gathers.
ALSO GROWS
mishkan: Dwelling place; tabernacle.
מִשְׁכָּן
The dwelling place grows from the same root as making God’s name dwell, tying the chosen place to presence.
shakhen: Neighbor; one who dwells nearby.
שָׁכֵן
This branch carries dwelling into nearness: the root can describe living close to others, as God’s presence is placed among this gathered community.
וְשָׂמַחְתָּ
vesamachta
GROWS FROM
שמח
Rejoice, be glad.
“rejoice” in this verse is vesamachta. The verb for rejoicing and the noun for joy grow from the same three consonants. Here that joy is enacted together by every person the verse names, rather than kept as a private feeling.
ALSO GROWS
simchah: Joy; rejoicing.
שִׂמְחָה
The noun names the joy that the verse’s verb puts into action among the gathered people.
sameach: Glad; rejoicing.
שָׂמֵחַ
This form describes a person who is glad; the verse places the named members of the community within the same rejoicing.
THE PATTERN
Joy before God takes the shape of shared provision and celebration that includes people with less secure places in the community.
And the Levite, (because he hath no part nor inheritance with thee,) and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, which are within thy gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the LORD thy God may bless thee in all the work of thine hand which thou doest.Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:THE THREAD
And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.The same root, שמח (samach, rejoice or be glad), appears in both verses. Verse 14 repeats the call to rejoice and names the same circle, showing that their inclusion is part of the feast’s joy.
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