What Does Deuteronomy 5:15 Mean in the King James?
And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.
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 Sabbath turns remembered deliverance from constriction into a present practice of stopping.
THE MEANING
When life narrows around you, this verse addresses you as one the LORD your God brings out with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Sabbath makes that release tangible as stopping: the old claim that you exist only to serve does not define your day. The deliverance is present whenever rest breaks that claim.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Rest is something you earn only after proving your usefulness; this verse grounds rest in deliverance.
THE ROOT
מִצְרַיִם
Mitzrayim
GROWS FROM
צ־ר־ר
ts-r-r
To bind, press in, or constrict; the related צַר (tsar) means narrow.
“Egypt” in this verse is Mitzrayim. Mitzrayim is heard through tzar as the narrow place, with -ayim carrying the twofold form: the two narrows. Here, the name points to the constriction the LORD’s mighty hand breaks open, so Sabbath begins in release from narrowed life.
ALSO GROWS
tsar: Narrow, tight, constricted.
צַר
It gives the name Mitzrayim its sense of a place that presses life into narrowness.
tsarah: Distress, trouble, anguish.
צָרָה
It shows how constriction becomes an experienced state, the very state from which the verse says you are brought out.
הוֹצִיאָךָ
Hotsi'akha
GROWS FROM
י־צ־א
y-ts-ʾ
To go out, come forth, or emerge.
“Brought thee out” in this verse is Hotsi'akha. The verb carries the movement of going out, with a causative form: the LORD causes you to emerge. Deliverance here is a passage out of the narrow place, not merely a new description of it.
ALSO GROWS
yetzi'ah: Going out, departure.
יְצִיאָה
It preserves the verse’s central movement: life passes out of constriction.
motza: Exit, outlet, way out.
מוֹצָא
It makes visible the opening implicit in being brought out from Egypt.
שַׁבָּת
Shabbat
GROWS FROM
ש־ב־ת
sh-b-t
To cease, stop, or desist.
The Sabbath’s root is stopping, and the verse links that stop to being brought out of servitude. Rest becomes a lived reminder that labor does not own every hour.
ALSO GROWS
shavat: To cease, stop, or desist.
שָׁבַת
It reveals the action at the heart of the Sabbath day: work comes to a stop.
shabbaton: Sabbath rest, a period of cessation.
שַׁבָּתוֹן
It extends the same root into a named time of rest, matching the verse’s practice of remembered release.
THE PATTERN
Remembered deliverance takes visible form in rest and in release for others.
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the LORD thy God redeemed thee: therefore I command thee this thing to day.The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,THE THREAD
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.Both verses turn on שַׁבָּת (shabbat, cessation), the same word for Sabbath. Exodus says to remember the day; Deuteronomy shows what the day remembers: the LORD bringing you out of constriction, so rest itself becomes a lived reminder of release.
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