What Does Deuteronomy 16:20 Mean in the King James?

That which is altogether just shalt thou follow, that thou mayest live, and inherit the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 16:20 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

The Hebrew repeats ⁨צֶדֶק⁩ (tzedek, alignment) and pairs it with a verb of pursuit, making justice a path bound to life and dwelling.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to your present as a call to pursue alignment, binding that pursuit to life and receiving the land the LORD gives. The land is a gift, and the pursuit remains active in the same sentence.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The lie that justice is only a status someone can claim: here, it is a pursuit joined to life and inheritance.

THE ROOT

צֶדֶק

tzedek

GROWS FROM

צדק

Alignment; what is right or just.

“just” in this verse is tzedek. The Hebrew repeats ⁨צֶדֶק⁩ (tzedek, alignment), giving the object of pursuit doubled emphasis. The verse joins that alignment to living and receiving the land, so justice is part of the path of life.

ALSO GROWS

tsedaqah: Justice, righteousness.

צְדָקָה

The same root carries alignment into the practice of what is right.

tsaddiq: A just or righteous person.

צַדִּיק

The branch describes a person by the alignment expressed in the verse.

תִּרְדֹּף

tirdof

GROWS FROM

רדף

Pursue, chase.

The verb translated “follow” carries the force of pursuit. Alignment is something actively gone after, and the same Hebrew root appears in the pursuit of wholeness in Psalm 34:14.

ALSO GROWS

rodef: A pursuer.

רֹדֵף

This branch makes the active force of following visible.

redifah: Pursuit; persecution.

רְדִיפָה

The root can describe sustained chasing, sharpening the sense of the verse’s repeated call to pursue what is just.

תִּחְיֶה

tichyeh

GROWS FROM

חיה

Live, be alive.

“live” in this verse is tichyeh. The verse connects pursuit of alignment with being alive. The same life-root appears in words for the living and for life, keeping the outcome concrete rather than abstract.

ALSO GROWS

chai: Alive, living.

חַי

The branch names the state of being alive that the verse places alongside justice pursued.

chayyim: Life.

חַיִּים

This branch reinforces that the verse speaks of life as bound to the pursuit of what is just.

THE PATTERN

Alignment is lived as something actively pursued, and that pursuit is bound to life and wholeness.

Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14 · KJVThe verse uses the same Hebrew pursuit-root for going after ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness), joining active pursuit with a whole life.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Matthew 5:6 · KJVThe deep hunger for righteousness expresses an active desire for alignment, with fullness as its answer.

But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

1 Timothy 6:11 · KJVRighteousness appears among the qualities actively pursued in a lived path.

THE THREAD

Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

Psalm 34:14 · KJV

The Hebrew verb ⁨רָדַף⁩ (radaph, pursue) here shares its root with Deuteronomy’s “follow.” Psalm 34 carries that pursuit into ⁨שָׁלוֹם⁩ (shalom, wholeness), opening the pursuit of alignment toward the whole of life.

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