What Does Deuteronomy 28:58 Mean in the King James?
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD;
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 verse links “fear” and “fearful” through the same Hebrew root: awe is built into the nature of the Name.
THE MEANING
This verse addresses you with a severe condition: if you refuse to guard and enact all the words of this instruction, you meet the LORD your God’s Name as glorious and fearsome. It binds your response to the instruction to your response to the nature the Name carries.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that the LORD’s name is an empty title, detached from the weight of what it names.
THE ROOT
לְיִרְאָה
le-yirʾah
GROWS FROM
ירא
y-r-ʾ
To fear, stand in awe; the same root describes both the response and what inspires it.
“fear / fearful” in this verse is le-yirʾah. English uses “fear” and “fearful,” but Hebrew forms both from ירא (y-r-ʾ). The verse says to fear a Name it calls fearsome, joining the reader’s response to the character of the Name.
ALSO GROWS
yirʾah: Fear, awe
יִרְאָה
This noun names the response the verse says the reader may have toward the Name.
nora: Fearsome, awe-inspiring
נוֹרָא
This adjective describes the Name itself, from the same root as “fear.”
תִּשְׁמֹר
tishmor
GROWS FROM
שמר
sh-m-r
To guard, watch over, keep.
“Observe” can sound like simply noticing, but this Hebrew verb carries the sense of guarding and keeping. The verse applies that keeping to all the words of the instruction.
ALSO GROWS
shomer: Keeper, watchman
שֹׁמֵר
The keeper actively guards; this makes the verse’s “observe” an engaged keeping.
mishmeret: Charge, guard, watch
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
This branch shows the root’s connection to an entrusted duty to keep watch.
הַשֵּׁם
ha-shem
GROWS FROM
שֵׁם
Name, reputation, expressed identity.
The verse calls the Name glorious and fearsome, presenting it as more than a detachable label. In the project’s established sense of shem, the Name carries the nature of its bearer.
ALSO GROWS
shemo: His name
שְׁמוֹ
This inflected form keeps the name tied to the one who bears it.
shem tov: Good name, reputation
שֵׁם טוֹב
A name can express the character and standing associated with its bearer.
THE PATTERN
A divine name carries the character and weight of its bearer, so how it is treated expresses how that bearer is met.
Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.He sent redemption unto his people: he hath commanded his covenant for ever: holy and reverend is his name.After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.THE THREAD
That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.Both verses join fear of the LORD with keeping all the instruction. Here, fear leads into keeping; in Deuteronomy 28:58, refusing to keep leads into fear of the Name, turning the relationship around.
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