What Does Deuteronomy 20:3 Mean in the King James?
And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
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 verse names fear as a sequence: the heart softens, alarm hurries you, and the enemy’s presence becomes terror.
THE MEANING
When an enemy stands near, this verse names how the threat can move inward: your heart softens, alarm rushes you, and the enemy’s presence becomes terrifying. The battle remains real, yet its nearness does not automatically take possession of your heart.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a real enemy makes inward collapse inevitable.
THE ROOT
תַּחְפְּזוּ
taḥpəzū
GROWS FROM
חפז
To hurry in alarm, be thrown into anxious haste, or flee in panic.
The word translated “tremble” carries the sense of hurried alarm: fear can push you into flight before the encounter has even begun. The same root names the “haste” of Passover, revealing that haste is a state of urgency whose meaning depends on what is happening.
ALSO GROWS
ḥippāzôn: Haste, urgent departure.
חִפָּזוֹן
Exodus 12:11 uses this noun for eating in haste, showing the same root can name urgent movement.
ḥāphaz: To hurry or flee in alarm.
חָפַז
This verb gives the root’s movement directly: alarm becomes hurried action.
יֵרַךְ
yerakh
GROWS FROM
רכך
To soften, become tender, or grow weak.
“faint” in this verse is yerakh. The Hebrew describes the heart becoming soft or slack before the verse names fear, alarm, and terror. Later in this same chapter, the “fainthearted” man is described with this root, making the inner softening explicit.
ALSO GROWS
rakh: Soft, tender.
רַךְ
This is the root’s basic image: “faint” begins as a softening of the heart.
rakh ha-levav: Tenderhearted, fainthearted.
רַךְ הַלֵּבָב
Deuteronomy 20:8 uses this phrase for the heart that may weaken others too, showing how inward fear can spread.
קְרֵבִים
qeravim
GROWS FROM
קרב
To draw near, approach, or come close.
“approach” in this verse is qeravim. The verse says the people are drawing near to the battle; the threat is an encounter they are approaching, not a distant abstraction. The same root carries the sense of drawing near in korban, so nearness here is active movement into an encounter.
ALSO GROWS
qarov: Near, close.
קָרוֹב
This branch makes the nearness in the verse visible: the battle is close enough to meet.
qorban: Drawing near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shares the root’s movement toward nearness and underscores that the people are approaching an encounter.
THE PATTERN
A real threat can remain present without gaining final authority over the heart’s response.
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.THE THREAD
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’s passover.The word rendered “tremble” here belongs to חפז, the same root translated “in haste” in Exodus 12:11. There, haste marks urgent departure; here, the verse names alarm that can hurry you into flight before you meet the threat.
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