What Does Deuteronomy 5:16 Mean in the King James?

Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

Deuteronomy 5:16 · 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

The Hebrew word for “honour” means to give weight, linking the weight given to parents with the shape and well-being of your own days.

THE MEANING

Your days are shaped by the weight you give your father and mother: their place in your life is consequential, not ornamental. The verse places this honor alongside prolonged days and well-being in the land God gives, holding relationships and a good life together.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the idea that honoring a parent is only a social courtesy with no bearing on how life takes shape. Here, the relationship is not weightless; the verse links it to your days and well-being.

THE ROOT

כַּבֵּד

kabbēd

GROWS FROM

כבד

k-b-d

To be heavy or weighty; in this form, to treat as weighty.

English “honour” can sound like courtesy, but ⁨כבד⁩ (k-b-d) binds honor to heaviness and weight. To honor your parents here is to give their relationship real consequence in the shape of your days.

ALSO GROWS

kavod: Weight, honor, or glory.

כָּבוֹד

The same root names both honor and weight, revealing that the verse’s honor involves recognizing the parents’ significance.

kābēd: Heavy or weighty.

כָּבֵד

This branch preserves the root’s concrete sense: honoring is giving weight to the relationship.

THE PATTERN

A life is shaped by the weight it gives to parental bonds and instruction.

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.

Proverbs 1:8-9 · KJVThe father’s instruction and mother’s teaching are pictured as adornment the reader carries, giving their words lasting weight.

Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.

Proverbs 4:10 · KJVReceiving a father’s sayings is directly joined to many years of life, as in Deuteronomy.

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.

Ephesians 6:2-3 · KJVThe command ties honoring parents to well-being and long life, repeating the bond between relational weight and a good life.

THE THREAD

Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

1 Samuel 2:30 · KJV

The Hebrew verb ⁨כבד⁩ (kābad, “to honor, make weighty”) appears for both honoring God and God honoring in return; “lightly esteemed” sets the opposite image of being light. Deuteronomy uses this same root for honoring parents, then links that weight to the length and goodness of your days.

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