What Does Deuteronomy 27:17 Mean in the King James?
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour’s landmark. 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 people’s “Amen” makes protecting a neighbor’s boundary a judgment they affirm together.
THE MEANING
This verse names the theft of shifting a neighbor’s boundary so their portion becomes yours. The curse falls on the one who displaces it, and the people’s “Amen” makes the judgment a shared affirmation.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that another person’s portion can become yours through a small adjustment of the line.
THE ROOT
גְּבוּל
gĕbûl
GROWS FROM
גבל
gābal: to set bounds, mark a limit.
“landmark” in this verse is gĕbûl. The word carries both boundary and territory: the marked line and the space it defines stay joined. Moving that line reaches into the neighbor’s portion, not merely a marker.
ALSO GROWS
higbalta: To establish a boundary.
הִגְבַּלְתָּ
The same root describes deliberately setting a limit; here that limit is the neighbor’s.
gĕbûlîm: Boundaries, territories.
גְּבוּלִים
The plural shows how a set of limits defines the space that belongs within them.
אָמֵן
ʾāmēn
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾāman: to be firm, steady, or confirm.
“Amen” grows from the root of firmness and reliability. The people’s response turns the judgment into a shared affirmation: this boundary is to stand.
ALSO GROWS
ʾāman: To be firm, support, or establish.
אָמַן
The people’s answer confirms the judgment rather than leaving it as a private claim.
ʾĕmûnāh: Steadiness, reliability, trust.
אֱמוּנָה
This branch echoes the firmness the people voice when they answer “Amen.”
THE PATTERN
A neighbor’s boundary marks a real portion that others are forbidden to take by shifting the line.
Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set.Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.THE THREAD
And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:The verb “set bounds” is הִגְבַּלְתָּ (higbalta, you set a boundary), from the same גבל (gābal, set bounds) root as גְּבוּל (gĕbûl, boundary) here. There, the boundary marks a limit around the mountain; here, it marks a neighbor’s land. The shared root ties a set line to the space it protects.
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