What Does Deuteronomy 17:9 Mean in the King James?
And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and enquire; and they shall shew thee the sentence of judgment:
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
Judgment here is not guessed in isolation: it is sought, then spoken as a ruling.
THE MEANING
When a matter demands judgment, you bring it to those entrusted to discern it, and you ask. They make the judgment known in words, giving the matter a shared, speakable answer. The verse holds inquiry and ruling together: the answer takes shape through a question made explicit.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the assumption that clarity always arrives as private certainty: here the answer is sought and made known by people entrusted with judgment.
THE ROOT
וְדָרַשְׁתָּ
vedarashta
GROWS FROM
ד־ר־שׁ
d-r-sh
Seek, inquire, consult, investigate.
“enquire” in this verse is vedarashta. The root carries the sense of actively seeking out an answer. The ruling begins with a matter being brought forward and pursued through inquiry; the question is part of the work of discernment.
ALSO GROWS
doresh: One who seeks or inquires.
דּוֹרֵשׁ
It shows the root as an active seeker, matching the person who brings a matter forward for an answer.
midrash: Inquiry or exposition.
מִדְרָשׁ
It preserves the movement from seeking into close interpretation, showing how inquiry can lead beyond a first answer.
הַמִּשְׁפָּט
ham-mishpat
GROWS FROM
ש־פ־ט
sh-p-t
Judge, decide, or govern a case; establish its right order.
The verse uses this same root for the judge, שֹׁפֵט (shophet: judge), and the judgment, מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat: ruling or justice). The person who weighs the case and the ruling share one seed, so “sentence of judgment” can carry the sense of a spoken decision about the matter, not only punishment.
ALSO GROWS
shaphat: To judge, decide, or govern.
שָׁפַט
This verb names the act carried out by the judge in the verse.
shophet: A judge, one who decides a case.
שֹׁפֵט
The same root names the person who weighs the matter and the decision that follows.
וְהִגִּידוּ
vehiggidu
GROWS FROM
נ־ג־ד
n-g-d
Make known, tell, declare.
The answer is made known to you; it is not left as a hidden opinion. The root behind “shew” also names telling and declaring, so the judgment becomes accessible through words.
ALSO GROWS
higgid: Declared or made known.
הִגִּיד
It names the act the priests and judge perform: making the ruling known.
maggid: One who tells or declares.
מַגִּיד
It shows the root as a person carrying something into speech, echoing the verse’s movement from inquiry to an answer heard.
THE PATTERN
A ruling takes shape when a matter is brought into inquiry and weighed beyond the first account.
And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:He that is first in his own cause seemeth just; but his neighbour cometh and searcheth him.And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.THE THREAD
For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.Isaiah names the LORD as judge with the same ש־פ־ט (sh-p-t: judging) root carried by “judgment” here. Placing judge, lawgiver, and king together opens the verse’s picture of judgment as part of the order that governs and brings deliverance.
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