What Does Deuteronomy 28:34 Mean in the King James?
So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
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 curse reaches its breaking point when sight itself becomes the wound: what the eyes see drives the mind toward madness.
THE MEANING
The verse names a torment in which what the eyes witness drives the mind toward madness. Seeing is not detached here; the sight itself becomes part of the wound.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It overturns the belief that witnessing suffering leaves a person untouched: what the eyes take in can alter the mind.
THE ROOT
מַרְאֶה
mar'eh
GROWS FROM
ראה
r-ʾ-h
to see, look, or perceive
The verse uses this root twice: first in מַרְאֶה, “sight,” and again in תִּרְאֶה, “you shall see.” That echo binds the mind’s madness to what fills the eyes: sight is not a passing detail but the pressure at the center of the line.
ALSO GROWS
mar'eh: What is seen; a sight or appearance.
מַרְאֶה
This is the noun in the verse, making the visible scene the stated source of the torment.
ro'eh: A person who sees or perceives.
רֹאֶה
This form keeps the perceiver in view: the verse describes what seeing does to the one who sees.
מְשֻׁגָּע
meshuggaʿ
GROWS FROM
שגע
sh-g-ʿ
to be mad or act insanely
“mad” in this verse is meshuggaʿ. The Hebrew names an actual breaking of the mind, not mere irritation. Its root returns in the passage’s earlier word for madness, linking this condition to the curse’s assault on perception and inner stability.
ALSO GROWS
shigga'on: A state of madness or mental disturbance.
שִׁגָּעוֹן
The same root names madness elsewhere in this chapter, showing that this is a recurring condition within the curse.
meshuggaʿ: A person described as mad or acting insanely.
מְשֻׁגָּע
This form appears in the verse and elsewhere as a description of someone whose ordinary sense has given way.
THE PATTERN
What the eyes hold in view can shape the condition of the whole person.
So that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.THE THREAD
The LORD shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart:Verse 28 names madness with the same Hebrew root, שגע (sh-g-ʿ), found in this verse. Here the text connects that madness to what the eyes see, showing the curse reaching inward through perception as well as outward circumstance.
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