What Does Deuteronomy 16:15 Mean in the King James?
Seven days shalt thou keep a solemn feast unto the LORD thy God in the place which the LORD shall choose: because the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the works of thine hands, therefore thou shalt surely rejoice.
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
Joy here gathers both what comes into your life and what your hands make, placing livelihood itself inside the feast.
THE MEANING
As you receive what comes in and engage the work of your hands, this verse gathers both beneath the LORD’s blessing. Rejoicing takes a concrete shape here: seven days in the place the LORD chooses.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that sacred joy must be detached from material life: the verse places produce and the work of your hands within the LORD’s blessing.
THE ROOT
תְּבוּאָתְךָ
tevu’atekha
GROWS FROM
בוא
to come, enter
The word for increase is tied to what comes in: abundance is framed as what arrives, not only what you produce. Set beside the work of your hands, it holds received yield and human labor together under one blessing.
ALSO GROWS
tevu’ah: produce, yield
תְּבוּאָה
This is the word in the verse; its root image of coming in illuminates increase as provision that arrives.
mavo: entrance, entry
מָבוֹא
This related form makes the root’s sense of coming or entering visible in another word.
יְבָרֶכְךָ
yevarekhekha
GROWS FROM
ברך
to bless; the same consonants also form “knee”
“bless” in this verse is yevarekhekha. The root family holds blessing alongside the knee, an image of bending and receiving. Here the blessing includes both yield and handiwork, so rejoicing is grounded in more than a tally of output.
ALSO GROWS
berakhah: blessing
בְּרָכָה
This noun shares the root of the blessing promised over the reader’s increase and work.
berekh: knee
בֶּרֶךְ
The shared root brings a posture of bending into view as an additional image within the word family.
תָּחֹג
tachog
GROWS FROM
חגג
to celebrate or keep a festival
“keep a feast” in this verse is tachog. The feast is an enacted celebration, not just an inward feeling. Its seven-day rhythm and chosen place give rejoicing a concrete form in life.
ALSO GROWS
chag: feast, festival
חַג
This related noun names the celebration the verse calls you to keep.
chagigah: festival celebration
חֲגִיגָה
This related form also carries the root’s sense of keeping a festal celebration.
THE PATTERN
The yield of the land and the work of human hands are treated as gifts whose expression is rejoicing.
And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.For thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee.Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.THE THREAD
And there ye shall eat before the LORD your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put your hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the LORD thy God hath blessed thee.This verse repeats the roots ברך (barakh, bless) and שמח (samach, rejoice), binding gladness to what the hands touch. The repeated phrasing opens Deuteronomy 16:15’s joy as something woven through daily work and household provision.
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