What Does Deuteronomy 27:16 Mean in the King James?
Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. And all the people shall say, Amen.
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 Hebrew for “setteth light by” comes from a root that can also mean “curse,” binding contempt to the language of curse.
THE MEANING
When you make your father or mother seem weightless, the verse names that contempt as a rupture with consequence. The people’s “Amen” gives the judgment a shared voice rather than leaving it hidden.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that contempt is harmless when it is quiet: even slighting is named, and the assembly answers aloud.
THE ROOT
מַקְלֶה
maqlēh
GROWS FROM
ק־ל־ל
To be light, make light of, or treat as slight; in some forms, to curse.
“setteth light by” in this verse is maqlēh. English separates “set light by” from “curse,” but both meanings appear in the range of ק־ל־ל: making something slight or treating it as insignificant. Here, slighting a parent is named as an act with weighty consequences.
ALSO GROWS
qal: Light or slight.
קַל
This branch makes the image in “setteth light by” concrete: the parent is treated as though their place carries no weight.
qelalah: Curse.
קְלָלָה
This branch shows that the same root family also reaches the language of cursing, linking contempt with a spoken curse.
mekallel: One who curses.
מְקַלֵּל
The same root appears in a direct command concerning one who curses a father or mother in Exodus 21:17.
THE PATTERN
The text measures family honor by whether a parent’s place is held as weighty or reduced to nothing.
Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;)THE THREAD
And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death.The verb translated “curseth” comes from the same root ק־ל־ל as “setteth light by.” The shared root brings the two expressions together: slighting and cursing belong to one word family, and this verse states the consequence with full severity.
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