What Does Deuteronomy 27:23 Mean in the King James?
Cursed be he that lieth with his mother in law. 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” is rooted in firmness: their answer makes the judgment a shared assent, not a passing utterance.
THE MEANING
The verse names sex with one’s mother-in-law as cursed, and the people answer together, “Amen.” A family tie does not make the boundary weightless; the judgment is shared aloud by the community.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie this undoes is that a tie created by marriage makes a sexual violation harmless or beyond communal judgment.
THE ROOT
אָמֵן
amen
GROWS FROM
אמן
ʾ-m-n
To be firm or reliable; to support or establish.
Amen grows from a root of firmness and reliability, so the people’s response carries more than a conversational “yes”: they stand behind the declaration together. Their assent does not soften the curse; it gives the judgment shared weight.
ALSO GROWS
aman: To be firm or reliable; to support.
אָמַן
The people’s Amen is a firm response: they affirm the declaration together.
emunah: Firmness, steadiness, trust.
אֱמוּנָה
This branch shows the root’s connection between assent and something dependable enough to be leaned upon.
THE PATTERN
A community’s Amen turns a spoken declaration into shared assent.
Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.Blessed be the LORD God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen. Praise ye the LORD.Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?THE THREAD
For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.The Greek ἀμήν (amēn), meaning “truly” or “so be it,” carries the same Hebrew-rooted affirmation of firmness. Here the people affirm a curse; in Corinthians, Amen affirms God’s promises, showing how the same word can stand behind very different declarations.
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