What Does Deuteronomy 31:21 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are befallen them, that this song shall testify against them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they go about, even now, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
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 song stays in their mouths because an inner pattern can be forgotten by the people who live it.
THE MEANING
A formed inclination is already known before the promised arrival, and the song continues to testify when trouble comes. What is carried in the mouth outlives the moment and gives the hidden pattern a voice.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that hardship creates the inner pattern or that the inward pattern remains unseen: it is already known, and the song gives it a public witness.
THE ROOT
יֵצֶר
yetzer
GROWS FROM
י־צ־ר
y-ts-r
to form, fashion, or shape
“imagination” in this verse is yetzer. Yetzer names what is formed within: an inclination, design, or bent of thought. The verse says this formation is already known before arrival in the land, so the song’s witness brings an existing pattern into speech rather than creating it.
ALSO GROWS
yatsar: to form or fashion
יָצַר
The same verbal seed makes the imagination a formed inclination, not merely a passing thought.
yotser: potter; one who forms
יוֹצֵר
The potter’s image makes the formative sense visible: an inclination has shape and direction.
עֵד
ed
GROWS FROM
עוּד
ʿ-w-d
to bear witness or testify
A witness gives testimony that stands against denial. Here the song itself occupies that role and remains embodied in the next generation’s speech.
ALSO GROWS
edut: testimony or witness
עֵדוּת
This branch names the testimony the song preserves beyond the moment of trouble.
he'id: to testify or bear witness
הֵעִיד
The verb shows the song acting as a speaker that testifies against the people.
THE PATTERN
A witness preserves truth beyond the will of those it confronts.
Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel.And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)THE THREAD
And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.Both verses use יֵצֶר (yetzer), the formed inclination or design. Genesis names it as an inward pattern; Deuteronomy says that pattern is already known and sets a remembered song beside it as witness.
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