What Does Deuteronomy 2:15 Mean in the King James?
For indeed the hand of the LORD was against them, to destroy them from among the host, until they were consumed.
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 word rendered “consumed” comes from ת־מ־ם, the root of being complete or finished: here, completion means a people brought to their end.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s hand is against them, and its force ends in destruction: they are destroyed from the host until their ending is complete. The Hebrew word behind “consumed” carries the sense of being finished, giving the ending a stark finality.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that the hand of the LORD always means shelter: here that hand stands against them and destroys them.
THE ROOT
תֻּמָּם
tummam
GROWS FROM
ת־מ־ם
To be complete, finished, or brought to an end.
“consumed” in this verse is tummam. תֻּמָּם (tummam, “their being finished”) comes from the same root that can describe wholeness or completeness. That does not soften the violence: here the people are destroyed, and the root gives their ending the force of completion.
ALSO GROWS
tamam: To be complete, finish, or come to an end.
תָּמַם
This verb shares the root and makes the finality in “until they were consumed” audible.
tamim: Whole, complete, sound; blameless.
תָּמִים
This word shares the root’s consonants and shows that the same root can describe wholeness, while here completion is the people’s end.
לְהֻמָּם
lə-hummām
GROWS FROM
ה־מ־ם
To discomfit, throw into confusion, or rout; by extension, to destroy.
The verb translated “destroy” belongs to a root whose range includes dismay and confusion. That shade does not reduce the outcome: the verse describes a host broken apart and its people brought to an end.
ALSO GROWS
hamam: To dismay, confuse, or rout.
הָמַם
This verb names the disruptive force carried by the verse’s word for destruction.
mehumah: Tumult, confusion, or panic.
מְהוּמָה
This noun shares the root’s consonants and preserves the sense of a host thrown into disorder.
THE PATTERN
The LORD’s hand is portrayed as an active force that brings judgment into concrete consequence.
Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.But the hand of the LORD was heavy upon them of Ashdod, and he destroyed them, and smote them with emerods, even Ashdod and the coasts thereof.And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand.THE THREAD
Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.The Hebrew word translated “perfect” is תָּם (tam), from the same ת־מ־ם root family as “consumed” here. The shared root can name wholeness or completion; in Deuteronomy, that completion is the people’s destruction.
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