What Does Deuteronomy 31:20 Mean in the King James?
For when I shall have brought them into the land which I sware unto their fathers, that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.
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 turning happens at the peak of provision: fullness can become the very moment allegiance turns toward its substitutes.
THE MEANING
When your needs are met and life grows full, the possibility of turning toward substitutes remains; abundance does not guarantee continued trust in the one who brought you here. The rupture is concrete: rival gods receive service, the LORD is provoked, and the covenant is broken.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that receiving abundance guarantees fidelity: a life can be full and still turn toward substitutes, serving them and rupturing its bond with the giver.
THE ROOT
וּפָנָה
u-fanah
GROWS FROM
פנה
p-n-h
to turn toward or away; to direct oneself
The Hebrew verb shares its root with the word for “face,” so this turn carries the sense of directing one’s presence toward something. The verse’s shift is an orientation of allegiance, not only a change of opinion.
ALSO GROWS
panim: face; presence
פָּנִים
The shared root ties turning to where one directs one’s face or presence.
pniyah: turning; appeal
פְּנִיָּה
This related word keeps the sense of directing oneself toward someone or something.
וְעָבְדוּם
ve-ʿavadum
GROWS FROM
עבד
ʿ-b-d
to work, labor, or serve
“serve” in this verse is ve-ʿavadum. The same root names service, work, and the servant. The turn becomes an enacted allegiance: life’s service is redirected toward the other gods.
ALSO GROWS
ʿeved: servant
עֶבֶד
The servant is one who belongs to a life of service under this root.
ʿavodah: work; service
עֲבֹדָה
This word makes clear that serving is an activity shaping how life is spent.
וְשָׂבַע
ve-savaʿ
GROWS FROM
שׂבע
ś-b-ʿ
to be satisfied or sated
“filled themselves” in this verse is ve-savaʿ. This is the language of reaching enough, not merely eating. The verse places satiety between receiving provision and turning away, making fullness the hinge in the sequence.
ALSO GROWS
śāvēaʿ: satisfied; sated
שָׂבֵעַ
This adjective describes the state reached when hunger is met.
śōvaʿ: satiety; abundance
שֹׂבַע
This noun carries the condition of having enough that frames the turning in the verse.
THE PATTERN
When fullness is mistaken for self-sufficiency, attention can turn from the source of life.
Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me.Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:THE THREAD
Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;“Art full” uses the same Hebrew root שׂבע (ś-b-ʿ, be satisfied) as “filled themselves” here. The next warning in Deuteronomy 8:14 connects this fullness with forgetting the LORD, exposing the same sequence.
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