What Does Deuteronomy 18:9 Mean in the King James?
When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
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
What is given to you does not make every practice around you yours: the surrounding pattern still has to be learned.
THE MEANING
Whenever you enter a place placed in your care, its surrounding practices do not become yours by arrival. The verse exposes imitation as learning through doing: repeated acts can train a pattern into you. “Abominations” names those acts as deeply abhorrent within the verse’s moral frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that entering a place means accepting its customs as part of the gift is undone here; what is given and what is imitated are distinct.
THE ROOT
תִּלְמַד
tilmad
GROWS FROM
למד
l-m-d
Learn, be taught, acquire a practice.
“learn” in this verse is tilmad. The verse joins learning directly to doing: this is not just taking in information, but acquiring a way of acting. The same root links the learner with the one who teaches, showing how a surrounding pattern can pass from one person into another.
ALSO GROWS
limmud: one who is taught; a learner
לִמּוּד
The learner is shaped by what is repeatedly taught and practiced.
melammed: one who teaches
מְלַמֵּד
The same root holds both sides of the transfer: teaching a pattern and learning to enact it.
נָתַן
natan
GROWS FROM
נתן
n-t-n
Give, set, place.
“giveth” in this verse is natan. The land is described as something given to you, a place received. The verse distinguishes that gift from the practices learned within the place: receiving a setting does not mean adopting every pattern around you.
ALSO GROWS
natan: to give, set, or place
נָתַן
The verse uses this root for the land received from God.
mattanah: a gift or present
מַתָּנָה
This branch makes the language of giving concrete: the land is received, while the conduct is learned.
THE PATTERN
Practices are learned from the patterns a person mingles with, and repetition carries those patterns into conduct.
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.THE THREAD
But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works.The Hebrew word for “learned” here comes from the same root as “learn” in Deuteronomy 18:9. Deuteronomy warns at the point of imitation; the Psalm makes the process visible: mingling with a pattern, then learning its works.
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