What Does Deuteronomy 27:13 Mean in the King James?
And these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
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
Even Asher, whose name carries happiness, stands among the tribes appointed to voice the curse.
THE MEANING
A named group stands on Ebal to voice the curse, and Asher, a name associated with happiness and flourishing, is among them. The Hebrew verb for “curse” carries the sense of making light of or treating as insignificant. The verse holds a name of flourishing beside speech that diminishes, showing that a person’s nature and a moment’s role are not the same thing.
THE ROOT
לְקַלֵּל
leqallel
GROWS FROM
קלל
The root’s range includes being light or slight; its intensive form means to make light of, revile, or curse.
The word family joins cursing with lightness: to curse is to treat something as insignificant or weightless. The tribes stand to voice a verdict that diminishes.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light, slight, of little weight
קַל
This branch exposes the image beneath the curse verb: something is treated as weightless or insignificant.
qillel: To treat lightly, revile, or curse
קִלֵּל
This intensive form shares the verse’s root and shows the force carried by the act of cursing.
אָשֵׁר
ʾĀšēr
GROWS FROM
אשר
The name is associated with happiness or good fortune; the related word family also carries the sense of advancing or flourishing.
Asher’s name carries happiness, yet the tribe stands with those set to voice the curse. That juxtaposition keeps the list from turning names into fixed moral labels: flourishing can be a name even when the role is to speak a diminishing verdict.
ALSO GROWS
Asher: The name associated with happiness or fortune
אָשֵׁר
Leah’s naming wordplay in Genesis 30:13 connects Asher with being happy.
ashrei: Flourishing
אַשְׁרֵי
The shared consonant root carries the language of flourishing, making the name’s life-tone audible in this list.
THE PATTERN
Speech can voice either blessing or curse, giving words a place and consequence.
And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.THE THREAD
And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.The Hebrew root קלל (qalal), meaning to make light of or curse, appears in the words translated “curse” and “curseth” in Genesis 12:3 as well as in Deuteronomy 27:13. The shared root brings the diminishing force carried by the spoken curse into focus.
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