What Does Deuteronomy 16:3 Mean in the King James?

Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

Deuteronomy 16:3 · 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 bread of affliction keeps the constriction in memory without making it your dwelling.

THE MEANING

The verse speaks to you as one who remembers coming out of constriction; the bread makes that memory physical and recurring. Affliction is named, and the way out remains present through every day of your life.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that remembering affliction means remaining inside it: the hardship is remembered as what you have come out of.

THE ROOT

עֳנִי

ʿonî

GROWS FROM

ענה

To afflict, bring low, or humble.

Here affliction is made into bread: the condition of being brought low becomes something remembered through eating. The phrase holds the pressure together with the memory of coming out of it.

ALSO GROWS

ʿānî: A person in a low or afflicted state.

עָנִי

It shows that the root describes a condition of being brought low, not only an event that causes pain.

məʿunneh: One who is afflicted or brought low.

מְעֻנֶּה

The same root appears in Isaiah 53:4, linking the affliction remembered here with affliction borne there.

מִצְרַיִם

Mitsrayim

GROWS FROM

צרר

To bind, press in, or constrict.

The name carries the sense of constriction, and the verse repeats the departure from Egypt twice. Remembrance holds both what pressed in and the movement out of it.

ALSO GROWS

ṣar: Narrow, tight, or confining.

צַר

It makes the nature of the place-name visible: Egypt carries the image of narrowness.

mēṣar: A narrow place or distress.

מֵצַר

Psalm 118:5 sets the strait against a spacious place, echoing this verse’s movement out of constriction.

THE PATTERN

A repeated sign makes deliverance a memory carried into the present.

And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten.

Exodus 13:3 · KJVThe bread and the spoken remembrance keep the coming out present in a repeated practice.

I will remember the works of the LORD: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.

Psalm 77:11 · KJVThe repeated act of remembering keeps the LORD’s works present to the one who speaks.

And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.

1 Corinthians 11:24 · KJVEating becomes a recurring sign through which remembrance is carried into the present.

THE THREAD

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:4 · KJV

Both words grow from ⁨ענה⁩ (ʿnh, to afflict or bring low): Deuteronomy names ⁨עֳנִי⁩ (ʿonî, affliction), while Isaiah uses ⁨מְעֻנֶּה⁩ (məʿunneh, afflicted). Deuteronomy makes affliction the bread of remembering an exit; Isaiah uses the same root for affliction borne.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us