What Does Deuteronomy 19:8 Mean in the King James?
And if the LORD thy God enlarge thy coast, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, and give thee all the land which he promised to give unto thy fathers;
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 promise becomes actual room: its sign is a boundary made wider.
THE MEANING
The verse holds open a present possibility: the LORD can enlarge your boundary, making what is spoken into room you can inhabit. Promise appears here as actual land and space, so the border you see now need not be the final measure of what can be given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that your current limits are the fixed measure of what the LORD can give.
THE ROOT
יַרְחִיב
yarḥiv
GROWS FROM
רחב
The three-letter root רָחַב (rāḥav) means to be wide or become spacious.
“enlarge” in this verse is yarḥiv. This is more than an abstract increase: the verb describes a boundary becoming wide. Its branch מֶרְחָב (merḥav, a wide or open place) names the space that widening makes possible, carrying the verse from a spoken promise into room to inhabit.
ALSO GROWS
merḥav: A wide or open place
מֶרְחָב
It shows the spacious condition that the widening in this verse creates.
roḥav: Breadth or width
רֹחַב
It makes visible that the change is in the measure of the boundary itself.
דִּבֶּר
dibber
GROWS FROM
דבר
The three-letter root דָּבַר (dāvar) means to speak or utter.
Where English says “promised,” the Hebrew says that the LORD spoke to give the land. The promise is voiced as a word with a concrete outcome: land that can be received and inhabited.
ALSO GROWS
dāvar: Word, matter, or thing
דָּבָר
This branch holds speech close to what takes shape in reality: the spoken promise concerns actual land.
dibber: Spoke or said
דִּבֶּר
This is the verb used in the verse, presenting the promised gift as something the LORD has spoken.
THE PATTERN
The movement into spaciousness takes shape as more room to inhabit, whether in a boundary, a broad place, or an open heart.
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.THE THREAD
Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;“Enlarge” in both verses comes from רחב (rāḥav, to become wide or spacious). Deuteronomy pictures the widening as a border; Isaiah carries the same movement into the place of dwelling.
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