What Does Deuteronomy 5:7 Mean in the King James?

Thou shalt have none other gods before me.

Deuteronomy 5:7 · 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.

THE KEY

“Before me” carries the image of standing before God’s face: no other god occupies that presence.

THE MEANING

The reader’s life is lived before the LORD, and the verse gives that presence an exclusive center: no other god takes that place. Its claim reaches now as undivided allegiance.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

It undoes the belief that the LORD can be treated as one divine power among several.

THE ROOT

עַל־פָּנָי

ʿal pānāy

GROWS FROM

פנה

panah

To turn or face toward.

“before me” in this verse is ʿal pānāy. The phrase literally pictures another god as standing before the LORD’s face, bringing the command into the space of presence. English “before” preserves the sense, while the Hebrew face-image makes that presence tangible.

ALSO GROWS

panim: Face; presence.

פָּנִים

The face is the concrete image at the center of “before me”: the command concerns what stands in the LORD’s presence.

lifnei: Before; in front of; in the presence of.

לִפְנֵי

This related form shows how the face-language also expresses being before someone, connecting spatial position with presence.

THE PATTERN

The LORD’s presence leaves no place for a rival god.

Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him.

Deuteronomy 4:35 · KJVThe verse states the same exclusive claim directly: there is no other beside the LORD.

I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

Isaiah 45:5 · KJVThe LORD’s own declaration excludes every competing divine power.

But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

1 Corinthians 8:6 · KJVThe verse locates all things in relation to one God and one Lord, with no rival source beside them.

THE THREAD

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:3 · KJV

Exodus 20:3 repeats the same wording and face-presence image. Seeing that phrase across both tellings sharpens the claim: no rival god stands alongside the LORD.

Read the SDV Bible.

Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.

Get Selah Verse

The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.

Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us