What Does Deuteronomy 16:5 Mean in the King James?
Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
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
The gate you inhabit does not decide where deliverance is gathered; the LORD does.
THE MEANING
The Passover is not enacted within every gate the LORD gives you; its place is the one the LORD chooses. The boundary of a home or town does not determine where deliverance is remembered.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The place I call home is automatically where deliverance must be remembered.
THE ROOT
לִזְבֹּחַ
lizboach
GROWS FROM
זבח
Slaughter for a sacrificial offering.
The offering and the altar grow from the same root: זֶבַח (zebaḥ), a sacrifice, and מִזְבֵּחַ (mizbēaḥ), an altar. The verse restricts where the Passover sacrifice is made; the act is gathered at the place the LORD chooses.
ALSO GROWS
zebaḥ: A sacrifice or sacrificial offering.
זֶבַח
It names the offering itself, showing the shared root behind the act of sacrificing.
mizbēaḥ: Altar.
מִזְבֵּחַ
The altar shares the root of sacrifice, tying the offering to the place where it is made.
פֶּסַח
pesaḥ
GROWS FROM
פסח
The linked verb means to pass over or spare.
The name of the Passover offering is tied to פָּסַח (pāsaḥ), the verb used for the LORD passing over or sparing in Exodus 12:13. The offering carries that act of deliverance into its remembrance, while this verse specifies where it is enacted.
ALSO GROWS
pāsaḥ: To pass over or spare.
פָּסַח
The verb links the name of the offering to the deliverance it remembers.
pesaḥ: The Passover offering or feast.
פֶּסַח
The offering bears the name associated with being passed over or spared.
נֹתֵן
noten
GROWS FROM
נתן
To give, set, or place.
“giveth” in this verse is noten. The gates are described as what the LORD gives, but receiving a place does not make every gate the appointed place for the Passover. The verse distinguishes the territory given from the place chosen for this act.
ALSO GROWS
natan: To give, set, or place.
נָתַן
This is the verb behind “giveth,” framing the gates as received.
mattanah: A gift.
מַתָּנָה
This related noun echoes that the gates are given, not self-appointed as the place for the offering.
THE PATTERN
The place of approach to God is not set by a person’s local boundary but by what God appoints.
But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.THE THREAD
But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover at even, at the going down of the sun, at the season that thou camest forth out of Egypt.The root זבח (z-b-ḥ), “sacrifice,” returns in the next verse, now attached to the place the LORD chooses. The restriction is a redirection: the Passover offering is gathered at the appointed place.
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