What Does Deuteronomy 28:10 Mean in the King James?
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
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 LORD’s name called over you is not merely a label but a nature made visible, and its visibility makes others fear you.
THE MEANING
The LORD’s name is called over you, and people see that belonging and fear you. The verse makes your public identity legible and holds its effect plainly: others respond with fear, not necessarily affection.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that being named by the LORD is invisible and changes nothing about how others see you.
THE ROOT
נִקְרָא
niqrāʾ from qārāʾ
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call, summon, or proclaim.
The phrase begins with shem (שֵׁם, name as nature) and uses the passive of qara (קָרָא, call): the LORD’s nature is called over you as a public identity. The next clause says all peoples see it, so this name-bearing is visible before it provokes fear.
ALSO GROWS
miqrāʾ: A convocation or assembly called together.
מִקְרָא
The same root’s movement from calling to gathering shows how a spoken designation can form a visible people.
qōrēʾ: One who calls or reads aloud.
קֹרֵא
This branch keeps the root’s public, voiced quality: what is called over you can be heard and recognized by others.
וְיָרְאוּ
weyirʾû from yārēʾ
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
Fear or dread; in other settings, reverence or awe.
“afraid” in this verse is weyirʾû from yārēʾ. Here the fear is directed toward you: the peoples see the LORD’s name called over you and fear you. The verse leaves that response charged and unsettling; it does not turn fear into admiration.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾāh: Fear, dread, or reverence.
יִרְאָה
This noun preserves the range of the root while the verse’s wording fixes the response as fear of you.
môrāʾ: Dread or terror.
מוֹרָא
This branch brings out the threatening edge that can sit inside the response described here.
THE PATTERN
A name called over a person makes belonging visible and shapes how others respond.
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.Hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for: that all people of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as do thy people Israel; and that they may know that this house, which I have builded, is called by thy name.And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.THE THREAD
Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.Jeremiah uses the same qara (קרא, call) construction: “we are called by thy name.” There it is a plea for God’s presence; in Deuteronomy, that named belonging becomes visible to outsiders and provokes fear. The shared wording opens the name as public identity, not a private label.
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