What Does Deuteronomy 25:8 Mean in the King James?
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
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 man’s refusal is named as desire and spoken before the elders, making a private will publicly consequential.
THE MEANING
When your choice touches another person’s future, your will comes into the open, where it can be answered directly. The man says he does not desire to take her; the refusal is stated as what he wants, not as an inability.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a refusal is weightless simply because it is framed as personal preference.
THE ROOT
חָפַצְתִּי
ḥāfaṣtî
GROWS FROM
ח־פ־ץ
To desire, delight in, or take pleasure in.
The word behind “I like not” comes from חפץ (ḥ-p-ṣ, desire or delight). His statement names a will: he does not want to take her, and that desire is spoken plainly before the elders.
ALSO GROWS
ḥēphets: Desire, delight, or pleasure.
חֵפֶץ
This noun shares the seed of the man’s “I do not desire,” showing the verse names what he takes pleasure in or refuses.
ḥāfēts: Desiring or taking pleasure in.
חָפֵץ
This verbal form shows the root’s active sense: desire is a direction of the will, not merely a passing label.
וְעָמַד
veʿāmad
GROWS FROM
ע־מ־ד
To stand, remain, or take a position.
“stand to it” in this verse is veʿāmad. The Hebrew phrase וְעָמַד וְאָמַר (veʿāmad veʾāmar, “he stood and said”) places standing before speech. The root’s branches for a pillar and a position illuminate the moment: this is a refusal held as a stated stance, not an unspoken feeling.
ALSO GROWS
ʿammūd: A pillar or column.
עַמּוּד
A pillar is what stands upright; the image gives the refusal the firmness of a position held.
maʿamad: A standing, position, or station.
מַעֲמָד
This branch makes the link between standing and taking a position explicit: the man’s answer is a stance he states before the elders.
THE PATTERN
When a choice affects another person’s claim, it is brought into public view so the community can hear and respond.
And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, Sit ye down here. And they sat down.And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.THE THREAD
But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.Psalm 1:2 uses the same חפץ (ḥ-p-ṣ, desire or delight) root for delight in the LORD’s instruction. The shared seed shows the force of “I like not”: it names the direction of desire, which can also be expressed as active delight.
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