What Does Deuteronomy 4:40 Mean in the King James?
Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.
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 hidden force of “keep” is guard: what is guarded becomes a living inheritance, carrying wellbeing through your children and across your days.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks of guarding instruction in the present, with its consequences reaching your children and the length of your life. The earth beneath you is given, and the days lived upon it are described as capable of being lengthened; the promise joins daily life, descendants, and the ground itself.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that keeping instruction only restricts life: here, guarded instruction is bound to wellbeing, continuity through children, and length of days.
THE ROOT
וְשָׁמַרְתָּ
vəšāmartā
GROWS FROM
שׁמר
To guard, watch over, keep, or preserve.
The word translated “keep” carries the sense of guarding and watching over. The verse presents instruction as an entrusted charge whose keeping protects a way of life that reaches beyond you.
ALSO GROWS
shōmēr: Watchman; one who watches or guards.
שֹׁמֵר
This branch makes the active sense of “keep” visible: it is attentive guarding, not simply holding something in memory.
mishmeret: Guard duty, charge, or watch.
מִשְׁמֶרֶת
The same root can name an entrusted charge, linking the guarded instruction here with a responsibility held over time.
תַּאֲרִיךְ
taʾărîkh
GROWS FROM
ארך
To be long or to lengthen.
“prolong” in this verse is taʾărîkh. The Hebrew verb carries the concrete sense of lengthening days. The same root appears in אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (ʾerekh appayim), “slow to flare,” extending the idea of length from a span of life to a delayed response.
ALSO GROWS
ʾōrekh: Length.
אֹרֶךְ
This noun makes clear that the verse speaks of days being given length.
ʾerekh appayim: Slow to flare; literally, “long of nostrils.”
אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם
The shared root carries the sense of extension over time, here describing a response that is slow to rise.
THE PATTERN
Guarded instruction bears on wellbeing and the length of life, reaching beyond the one who keeps it.
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.Honour thy father and mother; (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth.THE THREAD
The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore.Psalm 121 uses the same Hebrew root, שׁמר (shamar), rendered there as “preserve.” The root joins your guarding of instruction with the LORD’s guarding of your life, including your going out and coming in.
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