What Does Deuteronomy 32:22 Mean in the King James?

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell, and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.

Deuteronomy 32:22 · KJV

The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

THE KEY

Here, fire does not merely burn the land; it eats the land and its increase.

THE MEANING

The verse presents the LORD’s anger as a fire that reaches down to Sheol, eats the earth and its increase, and sets the mountains’ foundations ablaze. Its reach extends from visible abundance to the deepest supporting ground.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse dissolves the belief that visible abundance or deep foundations are beyond the reach of the LORD’s anger: it says both are consumed.

THE ROOT

וַתֹּאכַל

wattōʾḵal

GROWS FROM

אכל

Eat; consume.

The Hebrew says the fire eats the earth and its increase. “Consume” carries that literal eating image: the land’s growth becomes what the fire devours.

ALSO GROWS

ʾākal: To eat, consume.

אָכַל

The root verb makes the fire an eater, revealing the concrete image beneath “consume.”

ʾōḵel: Food; something eaten.

אֹכֶל

The same root names food, connecting the earth’s increase with what the fire takes in.

maʾaḵal: Food, foodstuff.

מַאֲכָל

This branch names what is eaten, deepening the verse’s picture of the land’s produce as the fire’s food.

מוֹסְדֵי

mōsdê

GROWS FROM

יסד

To establish, set, or lay a foundation.

The mountains’ foundations carry the root of establishing and setting in place. The fire reaches the very layer that gives the mountains their stability.

ALSO GROWS

yāsad: To establish or lay a foundation.

יָסַד

The verb names the act behind a foundation, showing that the fire reaches what is set in place beneath the mountains.

yesōd: Foundation, base.

יְסוֹד

This noun shares the root and names the supporting ground the verse says is set on fire.

mōsād: Foundation, establishment.

מוֹסָד

This noun belongs to the same root family as the verse’s “foundations,” emphasizing the underlying structure.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s burning anger is pictured as a consuming fire that reaches both what is fruitful and what is foundational.

For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.

Deuteronomy 4:24 · KJVThe LORD’s presence is named as consuming fire, the same image of heat that reaches beyond the surface.

A fire goeth before him, and burneth up his enemies round about.

Psalm 97:3 · KJVFire goes before the LORD and burns what lies around him, expressing the reach of the same consuming force.

For our God is a consuming fire.

Hebrews 12:29 · KJVThe verse repeats the image directly: God is described as consuming fire.

THE THREAD

And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

Exodus 15:7 · KJV

The verb translated “consumed” comes from ⁨אָכַל⁩ (ʾākal, “eat; consume”), the same root behind “shall consume” in this verse. Exodus makes the image vivid: the LORD’s sent wrath eats its target as fire eats stubble.

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