What Does Deuteronomy 28:45 Mean in the King James?
Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded 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 Hebrew verb behind curses that “pursue” here is also used for goodness and mercy that “follow” in Psalm 23: the pursuer changes, but the motion is the same.
THE MEANING
When the LORD’s voice is not received and its commands are not kept, the verse pictures curses closing the distance until they overtake and destroy. The warning speaks now in an image of consequences that do not remain safely far away.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that refusing the LORD’s voice leaves the consequences named here at a safe distance.
THE ROOT
לֹא שָׁמַעְתָּ
lo shama'ta
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
Hear and respond; listen with responsive attention.
“hearkenedst not” in this verse is lo shama'ta. Here the failure is not simply missing a sound: hearing is tied to receiving the voice in a way that answers through keeping what is commanded. The root connects the voice to the path that follows.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear and respond.
שְׁמַע
This is the imperative at the opening of Deuteronomy 6:4; here, the verse names what happens when hearing does not become response.
shemuah: Report; a message that is heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
Isaiah 53:1 calls the message “our report,” showing this root also names what reaches a hearer as a message.
וּרְדָפוּךָ
u-redafukha
GROWS FROM
רדף
radaph
Pursue; chase after.
“pursue” in this verse is u-redafukha. The curses are active in this image, closing in until they reach their target. In Psalm 23:6, the same verb belongs to goodness and mercy, so the root names the chase while the surrounding words tell what is pursuing.
ALSO GROWS
yirdefuni: They pursue me; rendered “shall follow me” in Psalm 23:6.
יִרְדְּפוּנִי
Goodness and mercy are the pursuers there, placing this verse’s pursuing curses beside a very different kind of pursuit.
rodef: Pursuer.
רֹדֵף
Deuteronomy 19:6 uses this form for someone chasing and overtaking another, keeping the image physical and close.
THE PATTERN
A voice refused does not stay abstract: the path that follows it takes on the consequences of that refusal.
But if ye will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.THE THREAD
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.The same root, רדף (radaph), meaning “pursue,” gives Deuteronomy’s “pursue” and the KJV’s “follow” here. The curses in one verse and goodness and mercy in the other are different pursuers; the shared root makes the contrast visible in the motion itself.
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