What Does Deuteronomy 17:6 Mean in the King James?
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
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
A death sentence cannot rest on one mouth: the verse makes corroborated testimony part of the threshold for taking a life.
THE MEANING
This verse sets a boundary around judgment: one person’s testimony cannot establish that another is worthy of death. A human life is not made forfeit by a single voice; the claim must be affirmed by more than one witness.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that one accusation, however forcefully spoken, is enough to establish guilt deserving death.
THE ROOT
עֵדִים
ʿēdîm
GROWS FROM
ע־ו־ד
ʿ-w-d
To bear witness or affirm; related forms also carry the sense of repeating or returning.
“witnesses” in this verse is ʿēdîm. The Hebrew word for witness is linked to a root family of attesting and affirming. The verse’s insistence on more than one witness means a death claim must be affirmed by another voice before it can stand.
ALSO GROWS
ʿēd: A person who testifies or attests.
עֵד
The singular form makes clear that one witness’s attestation alone does not meet the threshold in this verse.
hēʿîd: To give testimony or affirm a claim.
הֵעִיד
This verb names the act behind the noun: a witness affirms what is claimed, and here that affirmation must come from more than one voice.
THE PATTERN
A grave judgment or disputed matter requires corroborated testimony; one voice alone cannot make the claim stand.
Whoso killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.THE THREAD
One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.The same Hebrew word עֵד (ʿēd, witness) appears there, and that verse makes explicit what this one enacts: a matter is established by two or three witnesses. It opens the principle beyond a death sentence to accusations more broadly, tying the standing of a claim to more than one voice.
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