What Does Deuteronomy 27:10 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.
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
Here, “obey” is already the Hebrew verb for hearing: the voice is heard when its words take shape in action.
THE MEANING
The voice of the LORD meets you in the present tense of this day, and hearing it is bound to what takes shape in your actions. The verse joins receiving the voice and doing what it says in one movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that hearing God’s voice is complete once the sound reaches your ears; here, hearing is unfinished until it enters what you do.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁמַעְתָּ
veshamata
GROWS FROM
שמע
shama
To hear or listen, with the sense of heeding and responding.
The Hebrew verb translated “obey” also means “hear” or “listen.” The verse moves from hearing the LORD’s voice to doing his commands, showing that response is what hearing looks like when it takes shape in action.
ALSO GROWS
shomea: One who hears; a hearer.
שֹׁמֵעַ
This form makes the listener visible: hearing belongs to someone who receives the voice.
shemuah: A report or tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
A report is carried by hearing, echoing how the voice in this verse reaches the listener.
חֻקָּיו
chukav
GROWS FROM
חקק
chaqaq
To engrave, inscribe, or prescribe.
The word translated “statutes” is related to a root of engraving and prescribing, carrying the sense of something marked into a lasting form. Beside hearing and doing, it shows the voice taking shape in what is set in place for this day.
ALSO GROWS
chaqaq: To engrave, inscribe, or decree.
חָקַק
This verb gives the statute its image of something marked or prescribed.
choq: A prescribed portion, decree, or statute.
חֹק
This noun shares the verse’s word family and names what has been set in place.
THE PATTERN
The word is truly heard when hearing takes form in what is done.
And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.THE THREAD
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:“Obey my voice” translates a Hebrew phrase built from the same root, שמע (shama), meaning to hear and heed. Deuteronomy joins that hearing to doing, making clear how the voice becomes response.
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