What Does Deuteronomy 31:14 Mean in the King James?
And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thy days approach that thou must die: call Joshua, and present yourselves in the tabernacle of the congregation, that I may give him a charge. And Moses and Joshua went, and presented themselves in the tabernacle of the congregation.
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 root says Moses’ days are drawing near; death’s approach becomes the setting for a meeting where responsibility passes to the next bearer.
THE MEANING
The verse holds mortality and continuation together: your days move toward death, while a charge can still pass into the hands of the one who follows you. The ending of one life and the beginning of another occupy the same moment.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that approaching death makes a life’s charge disappear; responsibility can move forward as its bearer dies.
THE ROOT
קָרְבוּ
qārĕvū
GROWS FROM
ק־ר־ב
q-r-b
Draw near; approach.
English separates the approach of time from the act of drawing near. Here the days draw near to death, and the scene turns toward a meeting where a charge is entrusted.
ALSO GROWS
qorban: Drawing near; what is brought near.
קָרְבָּן
This branch shares the root of the approaching days and carries the idea of something brought near.
qerev: The inward part; the midst.
קֶרֶב
The root’s sense of nearness also reaches into what is within or at the center.
וַאֲצַוֶּנּוּ
va’atzavennu
GROWS FROM
צ־ו־ה
ts-v-h
Command; instruct; appoint.
The charge is an instruction entrusted by the speaker to Joshua. The same root runs through words for command and commandment, joining this personal handoff to a wider pattern of instruction.
ALSO GROWS
mitzvah: Commandment; instruction.
מִצְוָה
The shared root shows the charge as an instruction, not merely a title or transfer of status.
tsav: A command; directive.
צַו
This related form makes the force of what is entrusted explicit: Joshua receives a directive.
יְהוֹשֻׁעַ
Yehoshua
GROWS FROM
י־שׁ־ע
y-sh-ʿ
Deliver; bring to safety.
Joshua’s name joins the deliverance root with the divine name: “the LORD delivers.” The successor’s name carries deliverance into the scene where the charge changes hands.
ALSO GROWS
yeshuah: Deliverance.
יְשׁוּעָה
The name’s root connects Joshua with deliverance as an act of being brought out to safety.
moshia: Deliverer; one who brings to safety.
מוֹשִׁיעַ
This related form shows the root as an agent who carries deliverance forward.
THE PATTERN
Entrusted responsibility continues as it passes from one bearer to the next.
And the LORD said unto Moses, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine hand upon him; And set him before Eleazar the priest, and before all the congregation; and give him a charge in their sight.Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying,And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
And the time drew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt:Genesis uses the same Hebrew root, ק־ר־ב (q-r-b), meaning “draw near,” as Deuteronomy does for the days approaching death. In both verses, death’s nearness is followed by a summons to the next bearer: Moses calls Joshua, and Israel calls Joseph.
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